


ON 



THE ARRANGEMENT, CARE, AND OPERATION 

OF 

WOOD-WOKKING FACTORIES 
AND MACHINERY; 

FORMING 

A COMPLETE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 
By J; RICHARDS, 

MECHANICAL ENGINEER, AUTHOR OF 'A TREATISE ON WOOD- WORKING MACHINES.' 







NEW YOEK: , : ; 
E. & F. N. SPON, 446, BEOOME STEEET. 

LONDON : 
48, CHAEING CEOSS. 

1873. 



8* 



^¥ 



[Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1873, by John Richards, in 
the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.^ 



w 



vfi 



PREFACE. 



In the * Treatise on the Construction and Operation of 
Wood-working Machines,' it was necessary to introduce 
a large number of expensive engravings, and to treat of 
many things not directly connected with the processes of 
wood conversion, but relating entirely to the construction 
of machines. This, while it added to the value of the 
work for engineers and machinists, at the same time 
extended its cost, and placed it beyond the means of 
machine operators and wood mechanics generally; be- 
sides, the plan of the work did not include the practical 
details of shop manipulation. 

In view of this fact, and further to promote the de- 
velopment of wood manufacture, it has been considered 
expedient to supplement the * Treatise on the Construc- 
tion and Operation of Wood-working Machines,' with a 
shorter one, directed to their care and management, in- 
cluding the plans of arranging and equipping factories 
for wood work, and particularly the details with which 
the practical workman has to deal. 

The work is mainly based, upon American practice, 
which can hardly detract from its usefulness in other 

a2 



IV PREFACE. 

countries. The wood interest is more extended in America 
than elsewhere, and we have every reason to assume, that 
with our present facilities of intercourse, wood conversion, 
like other manufacturing processes, will become analogous 
and uniform, as it progresses and improves. 



J. RICHARDS. 



10, John Street, Adelphi, London, 
Jan., 1873. 



XNTKODUCTIOK 



At the present day it may be fairly claimed that machines 
have supplanted hand labour in working wood. 

Year by year improvements have gone on, until bench 
work and hand skill have become comparatively unim- 
portant elements in wood manufacture ; and, as Professor 
Willis remarked before the Society of Arts, 1852, " no- 
thing remains to be done by hand, but to put the com- 
ponent parts together." None, except those who have 
learned their trades when and where machines were 
not used, can realize this change. You may tell the 
apprentice of to-day about going out through the snow 
to a board-pile, selecting your stuff, carrying it in, and 
after scraping off the snow in winter, or sweeping off 
the dust in summer, laying out the stuff with a chalk- 
line, and straight-edge, ripping out the job by hand, 
setting it about the stove to dry, and then dressing it 
up with a jack plane. You may tell him of mortising 
by hand, cutting tenons and shoulders, with a back- 
saw, and he will look at you with an incredulous stare. 
No wonder; for this sort of thing has passed away, 
and with it, we are happy to say, some of the hardest 
labour that ever was dignified with the name of me- 
chanical. It was mechanical, nevertheless, and called 
for the continual exercise of judgment and skill ; from 
the cutting out to the cleaning off, it was a kind of 
race between brains and muscle, in which brains some- 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

times conquered. Many a time, as older hand workmen 
will remember, would a small man, without that muscular 
strength that seemed to be the main element in his work, 
have earned his dollar or two dollars more at the end of 
the week than his stronger competitor, simply by his 
superior hand skill, superior judgment, and superior tools. 
But now machines do the work, and the main business of 
the operative is to take care of, guide, and direct them. 
The muscular work is gone; the brain work remains. 
We cannot quite say that our occupation is, like Othello's, 
gone, but it is greatly changed — from hand operation, 
it has become machine operation, and hence the need for 
this little work. 

Machine operating is a trade — not an ordinary trade, but 
one of great intricacy, and unlike almost any other ; it is 
one that cannot be completely learned even in a lifetime. 

A man endowed with a strong natural capacity may, 
during a long and diversified experience, become a pro- 
ficient and successful operator of wood machines, but the 
incessant changes and improvements that are going on 
in machines and processes, together with the arduous 
nature of his work, are more than enough to take up his 
time and his abilities. Month after month, and year after 
year, he sees that which he has to learn, grow and expand 
until he almost despairs of mastering it. He is not 
a mechanic with a trade in the usual sense; but is a 
mechanic of many trades. The duties discharged by a 
machine operator in America would be and are in Europe 
divided up into half-a-dozen different callings ; there are 
for instance the sawyer, the filer, the planer, the jig sawyer, 
finisher, and others, involving a division of labour which 
would be very far from producing the results we have 
in our wood-working establishments in America, where 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

the machine operator must be a bench workman, under- 
stand all wood-machine operation, must be a machinist, 
not only one that can chip and file, but must know the 
theory of constructing and repairing machines ; he must 
be a millwright, not an old time " whittler " who could 
pare for a week on half-a-dozen wooden cogs of a crown 
wheel, but a millwright who can lay out shafting, calcu- 
late speeds, build wooden drums and supports, and do it 
in a rapid and thorough manner; in short, be proficient 
in the most difficult of millwright work. Thus the wood 
workman, in escaping the muscular part of his calling, has 
only added to the mental part; but he has at the same 
time the assurance that the change dignifies his business, 
and leads to better pay, which has in all times and all 
places corresponded more to the mental than the physical 
part of man's labour. 

Nearly every mechanical trade has its "Handbook," 
" Manual," or " Guide," based upon the practice of 
skilled men, and containing rules founded on experience, 
which have been of great use in giving information to 
workmen. To argue the merit of such books is super- 
fluous. In every country the advancement of mechanic 
art has been largely if not mainly indebted to the dis- 
semination of technical literature of this kind. A book 
relating to any branch of industry is, or ought to be, but 
the experience of some person, given with opinions and 
rules deduced from that experience, and is more valuable 
than oral instruction because more carefully given, can 
be often referred to, and used by a greater number of 
people. There has been in time past, and there is still, 
too much of a feeling that books cannot deal directly with 
practice, and relate to theory only ; and further, that 
theory and practice are not only different elements in 



Ylll INTRODUCTION. 

mechanics, but in a measure antagonistic and opposed to 
each other. The further we go back, the more we find 
of this spirit, which has grown out of a variety of reasons, 
among which we will name the imperfection or im- 
practicable character of certain books prepared by those 
who were only versed in theory, and did not understand 
practice as well. Again, want of knowledge and ap- 
preciation of the true relations between theory and 
practice ; and the general want of both a knowledge of, 
and attention to principles, has led to the same result. 
We therefore, without fear of error, may claim that the 
popular estimate of text-books is in a degree wrong. We 
take up a book devoted to some art with which we are 
familiar, and find the author has made a blunder on some 
particular point which we understand better than he does, 
and at once conclude that the book is of no use ; but 
read on, the author may make ten successive mistakes 
and then give some useful idea, that is new to the reader, 
and worth twenty times the cost of the book. Besides, 
the too common idea, especially with young mechanics, is 
to regard as wrong all that differs from their own opinions 
and practice. These things are mentioned as operating 
against the good that class text-books may do ; but still 
the fact remains, that to such books we have been in the 
past indebted, and to them we must in the future look as 
a principal means of disseminating technical knowledge. 

We have said that nearly all mechanical trades have 
been developed by, and have, their text-books. Can anyone 
tell why wood manufactures have had no such text-books ? 
or rather, why wood working by machinery has had no 
books of any kind? This is the more remarkable in 
America, where the wood-working interest is so extensive, 
and where at least a quarter of a million of people are 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

concerned in wood manufactures. So long as the fact is 
assured, the reason is not important, except as it may tend 
to mend the matter in future. 

We may say, that as changes and improvements in 
machines have been so rapid text-books could not do 
much good ; that the art had no scientific base admitting 
rules that could be of general application ; and that the 
operations were too diversified in different branches to 
be treated under a general head, with other excuses ; but 
the fact still remains, without a sufficient reason, that 
wood manufactures have been greatly neglected, and that 
much that might have been done has not been done. 
In future, if the art is to keep up and maintain its 
place as one of the most important among American 
manufactures, it must, like metal work, textile fabrics, 
engineering, and other interests, have a literature con- 
sisting of text-books for operators and manufacturers, rules 
and formulas for constructors, and a general system to 
guide, in the arrangement of factories, the operation and 
care of machines and like matters. 

As to how far a text-book, or rather a handbook, may 
be of general application in wood work is confessedly a 
question of difficulty, and this should be considered in any 
estimate placed upon what is written upon the subject ; but 
there is still this argument in favour of having it relate to 
wood work in general, that the whole tendency of shop 
manipulation is to a uniformity of processes and machines, 
and the more of the work there is performed by machines, 
the stronger the analogy between different branches ; and 
also, as machines approach nearer and nearer to a standard 
form of construction for the general purposes of planing, 
sawing, mortising, and so on, the more uniform will be 
these processes. In short, the machines used for such pur- 



X INTRODUCTION. 

poses as joinery, cabinet making, carriage making, are 
becoming similar, except as to strength and capacity, 
which is not to be wondered at when we reflect that the 
one general principle throughout is cutting with sharp 
edges. 

Hoping to contribute something to such a desirable end, 
this little treatise has been prepared. It is based directly 
upon American practice, which is peculiar, and could not 
be aided by text-books arranged for, and with reference to 
practice in, older countries, where labour is cheaper and 
the skill less ; where hand labour yet maintains an 
important place, and will no doubt for a long time to 
come. 

It must be remembered that " Handbooks," " Manuals," 
and text-books generally, are compilations to a great 
extent from more elaborate and scientific treatises relating 
to the same subject, and that authors have but little to do 
beyond condense, simplify, and arrange them. In the 
present case, however, it is different. One might look 
in vain to find anything to assist in the preparation 
of a treatise on wood manufacturing, if we except the 
writer's own Treatise on the Construction and Operation 
of Wood-working Machines. 

The writer therefore sets out on this job with the 
expectation of having to furnish the material as well 
as to do the work. It will consist mainly of, and be 
founded on, his own experience, which he trusts has been 
extensive and successful enough, to afford much that will 
be useful to the reader. 

We conclude this Introduction by further reminding the 
reader that in most mechanical trades a handbook would 
relate to processes alone ; but for reasons already given, a 
book for machine operators in wood manufactures must be 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

more than this, or else fail to be of much use. It must to 
some extent treat of the construction of machines, the 
arrangement of wood manufactories, the power to drive 
them, the handling of material, of all that the machine 
hand has to deal with. As his calling is a combination of 
trades, so must this book relate to a diversity of subjects. 
There is but little fear of going outside of what an ope- 
rator has to do and know, for it comprises nearly all that 
is carried on in wood-working shops except the accounts, 
and often includes a liberal share in that department. 
With this fact in view, we have but little fear of getting 
wide of the subject, and are quite confident that although 
we may discuss things which the Title would hardly 
reach, we shall not go beyond what either belongs to his 
business or is of interest to the operator of wood-working 
machinery. 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 



ARRANGEMENT OF WOOD-WORKING FACTORIES. 

Wood-working establishments in America are divided 
mainly into those directed to the preparation of builders' 
material, the manufacture of furniture, and carriage work. 

The first comprehend planing mills, door, sash, and 
blind factories, and moulding mills. 

The second, all classes of furniture making, including 
chairs and turned work generally, with musical instrument 
cases. 

The third, carriage work for railways and road traffic, 
with framing for agricultural implements, a class of work 
that is analogous and, as a rule, performed on the same 
kind of machines. 

Outside these three general divisions there are turn- 
ing shops, bending works, handle factories, tool factories, 
and similar establishments, in which the processes and 
machines are more or less special. 

Wood manufacture, as a process unlike most others 
for the conversion of material, is confined to a single 
operation, that of cutting, which will be treated of under 
another head. The principles being nearly alike in the 
action of all the different wood machines, it follows that 
the shops are, or can be, very much on. the same general 
plan for the several divisions of work which we have 
named. The machines and the material are nearly 

B 



2 THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 

the same for general woodwork ; and if we leave out 
timber cutting, of which it is not proposed to say any- 
thing in the present work, rules that will apply to a 
planing mill, or furniture factory, will not be far wrong 
for a carriage shop, or a car shop. 

An ordinary wood-working factory may be a plain 
rectangular building, not less than 48 feet wide inside ; 
long enough and high enough to accommodate the require- 
ments of the business. The writer in his experience has 
found 48 feet an advantageous width, and would recom- 
mend it never exceeding 60 feet; for beyond this the 
added width will not afford facilities in the same ratio, 
and will increase the proportionate cost of a building. A 
width of 50 feet to 60 feet will allow for what we will 
term four lines of machine work, two on each side, and 
a tramway or a wagon road in the centre. 

The diagram given, Fig. 1, will serve as an example of 
this arrangement for a jobbing mill. The plan is not 
assumed as presenting anything new, but given rather for 
the opposite reason, because it is not new or ingenious. 

The most important matter to be guarded against in 
making plans for a new mill, is that of intricate and 
original designs, seemingly presenting great advantages 
on paper, and apparently quite correct to an architect 
before building, but really quite wrong to a foreman or 
manager after the building is completed. 

Fig. 1 is on a scale approximately as 1 to 400. 

The plan here suggested is for a country jobbing mill 
60 x 120 feet outside dimensions, having two cross lines 
of shafting, and equipped with machines requiring about 
40-horse power. 

The lower story should be 13 to 15 feet high in the 
clear, and the countershafts as far as possible overhead. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



The arrangement of machines upon the floor is a matter 
that may be varied at pleasure, or to suit special kinds of 



Fig. 1. 

12V feet 



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Eeferences. 



1.— Office, 14 x 16 feet. 

2.— Counting room, 16 x 16 feet. 

3. — Storeroom for oil, tools, and 
supplies, 10 x 16 feet. 

4.— Eepairing and tool-dressing 
room. 

5. — Boiler-shed. 

6. — Firing room. 

7. — Magazine for shavings. 

8.— Steam chimney. 

9. — Engine-room. 
10. — Steam furnace. 
11. — Stairway. 
12.— Hoisting platform. 
13.— Cutting-off and jobbing saw- 
bench. 
14. — Jointing saw. 
15. — Jobbing saw. 
16. — Large flooring machine. 



17. — Matching planers for jobbing. 

18. — Large moulding machine. 

19. — Small moulding machine. 

20. — Slitting saw bench. 

21. — General surfacing planer. 

22. — Splitting saw for siding. 

23. — Kesawing machine. 

24. — Wagon passage, or tramway. 

25. — Grindstones for planer-knives 

and tools. 
26. — Engine lathe for repairing. 
27.— Forge fire. 

28. — Vice bench for machine fitting . 
29. — Saw-filing bench. 
30. — Pumps. 

31. — Main driving pulley. 
32. — Engine. 
a a. — Shafting. 



4 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

work; it cannot well be predicated upon an ideal plan, 
and can be remedied by changing, if wrong. The arrange- 
ment of the machines also depends upon their number and 
capacity. If in founding a mill the equipment is not 
complete, as is generally the case, there is no necessity 
for crowding and hampering machines to suit some 
general plan which may be carried out in future, when 
the mill is fully equipped ; it is often more advantageous 
to set machines temporarily, moving them as occasion may 
require, and thus obtaining more room, and greater con- 
venience for the time being. 

The shafting is shown arranged in two lines, three are 
often better and more convenient. If three lines are used 
they will cost but little more than a single one running 
the other way of the building, and can have the advantage 
of being arranged to run at different speeds if required. 

The last shaft, or the one farthest from the engine, can 
be driven at a higher speed than the other shafts to suit 
joiners' machines on an upper floor, an arrangement that 
is common in our mills ; joiners' machines if belted from 
below will not require a line of shafting above, and a self- 
supporting roof can be used, so that the upper room will 
be clear of posts, adding greatly to both the appearance 
and convenience of the room. 

The position of the posts in the lower story is not 
marked in Fig. 1, but they can be arranged on each side 
of the central passage at a distance apart that will best 
accommodate the handling of long stuff, which is an 
important thing to be considered about a mill floor. 

In connection with the plan, Fig. 1, the following list 
of dimensions for machinery will be of use in making 
plans for mills, even when they may vary in capacity 
from the one assumed : — 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. O 

Steam engine, 12 inches diameter, 20 to 24 inches 
stroke, with a speed of 75 revolutions a minute. 

Boiler, if double flued, 44 inches diameter, 28 feet long ; 
if multiflued, one-fourth less heating surface will do. 

Grate surface, equal to 16 square feet. 

Steam chimney, 60 feet high ; area of flue, 500 square 
inches, fitted with air-tight slide damper. 

Engine-driving pulley, 10 feet diameter, 18 inches space. 

Line shafting, 3 inches diameter throughout, to make 
250 revolutions a minute. 

Line-shaft pulleys, with average diameter of 36 inches 
and 12 inches face. 

Average speed of countershafting 750 revolutions a 
minute. 

Hoisting platform, 10 x 6 feet. 

As various dimensions will be hereafter considered under 
separate heads, these are only given to render the diagram 
more complete. 

For furniture and carriage manufacture, and in any case 
where the lumber is short, or is reduced to short lengths, 
in working, the arrangement of machines must have refer- 
ence rather to the course of the material through the 
shop as it is sawed, planed, bored, and mortised, than to 
providing room to handle it in. 

In the case of a planing mill, a large share of the lumber 
worked is only dressed, or jointed and matched, and then 
again sent out ; the trouble is to find room for the lumber 
among the machines, and to handle it ; in other words, to 
get it into and out of the mill without interfering with 
other work. If flooring is regularly or continually made, 
or if surfacing is continually going on, it is useless to 
provide room within the main building for storing either 
the rough or finished stuff ; it should be fed in through the 



THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 



walls, and passed out of them as fast as worked, in such a 
manner as will not interfere with other operations going 
on at the same time. 

A lumber-planing mill, where nothing but planing is 
done, requires a totally different arrangement from a mill 
where joiners' stuff and mouldings are made, or jobbing done. 

The main building should be in such cases about 24 feet 
wide, with the machines placed side by side across the 
building, and have large doors opening opposite the feed 
end of each machine, as in Fig. 2. 

The Figure is arranged on a scale of 1 to 200. 

Fig. 2. 



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75 



[References. 



1.— Is the main planing room. 

2. — The engine-room. 

3. — Storeroom for oil, tools, and 
stores. 

4. — Magazine for shavings. 

5. — Boiler furnace. 

6. — Storing shed for worked lum- 
ber. 

7. — Steam chimney. 

8. — Engine. 



9. — Main driving pulley. 

10. — Planing and matching ma- 
chines. 

11. — Surfacing machine. 

12. — Line shaft. 

13. — Large doors hinged at the top 
to open inward. 

14. — Portholes for planed stuff to 
pass through. 

15. — Ash-pit to the steam furnace. 



THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 7 

This plan in substance has been adopted in some of the 
larger mills about Chicago, and has many advantages to 
recommend it for a mill that is devoted to lumber dressing 
alone. 

It affords a mill of great capacity with but a limited 
investment in the building, and the most economical 
arrangement of shafting and belts ; besides, the plan is as 
safe from fire as it is possible to arrange one. The lumber 
is mainly handled out of doors, which gives unlimited 
room for storing, loading, and unloading it from wagons 
or railway trains. 

The main mill-room and the engine-room should be 
thoroughly fireproof, with iron roof, and roof supports. 

The walls should be 17 inches thick, and the overhead 
cross-beams not less than 15 feet above the floor, with the 
line shafting placed in pedestals, resting on top of the 
beams. 

The line shafting should be 3 inches diameter, and make 
250 revolutions a minute. 

A mill of this capacity should manufacture at least 
25,000 feet of matched stuff in a day, besides doing an 
equal amount of rough surfacing. 

For general wood manufacture other than lumber dress- 
ing or car building, the plain rectangular form of building 
represented in Fig. 1 is as nearly correct as any that can 
be devised. The material and the machines are short, and 
a given amount of floor room, with convenient ingress and 
egress, is all that is required. 

Upper floors are, with good hoisting apparatus, nearly 
as good as ground floors for most purposes, and the most 
economical buildings for furniture manufacturing are from 
four to six stories high. 

To secure good lighting, cheap timber framing, and to 
avoid posts, wood- working buildings should be narrow and 



b THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 

long ; or rather the width should be constant, and addi- 
tional room secured by length. 

A building for wood manufacturing can be 48 feet wide 
in the clear, with a single row of posts in the middle, if 
the girders are deep enough, say 16 x 12 inches, or if 
smaller they may be trussed, as shown in Fig. 3. 

Fig. 3. 




The truss rods are generally in the way of the belts, 
especially when the line shafting is placed, as it should be, 
across the building; and in nearly all cases it is both 
better and cheaper to provide strength in the girders 
without trussing them. 

In the common plan of resting the joist on the top, the 
girders are themselves in the way of the belts, and often 
cause great inconvenience. 

But few ever consider in building shops that this method 
of mounting joists adds their depth to the height of the 
walls ; so that it is not only an inconvenient but a very 
expensive one. A building with three floors will re- 
quire to be some three feet higher at least, to give the 
same clearance between the floors as when the joists are 
let in flush. 

For factories, where there is overhead shafting, the joist 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



9 



should be gained into the girders, and rest on string 
pieces also, as in Fig. 4. 

Fig. 4. 




References. 

1. — Section across the girder. 

2. — Joists. 

3.— Post. 

4. — Iron post cap, wide enough to receive the pieces 6, 6, which 

are bolted or spiked to the sides of the girder 1, to receive 

part of the strain and support the joists. 

With bearing strips to help support the joists, the latter 
need not be gained into the girder far enough, nor deep 
enough, to weaken it. The bottom of a beam is its 
weakest part, in resisting transverse strain ; and the gain, 
say 2J inches long and 6 inches deep in a girder 16 x 12 
inches, does not affect its strength. The top receives only 
compressive strain, and is after notching generally stronger 
than the bottom side. 

In Fig. 4, 5 5 are hanger-plates, which are thick enough 
to come flush with the bottom of the girders, as shown by 
the dotted lines. This arrangement of having the girders 
project below the joist to a depth equal to a 3 or 4 inch 
hanger-plate, is one that will find favour with any mechanic 



10 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

who lias had experience in erecting shafting beneath a floor, 
where the joist was laid on the top of the girders, and where 
all the plans for belts, and even the position of machines, 
had to be governed by the position of the girders. As 
here arranged, the whole ceiling is in effect a plane ; a 
shaft or other overhead work can be set anywhere. If a 
hanger comes on the girders, it is evident that no hanger- 
plate is needed, so that there is really no inconvenience, 
but a decided advantage in having the girders project 
below the joist, to the difference of their depth, say from 
3 to 4 inches. 

Joist floors are the best floors for wood-manufacturing 
establishments of all kinds. A plank floor, resting on girder 
beams, is very strong in the sense of supporting a great load, 
and will do very well for machine shops, but is totally unfit 
to resist the jar and vibration of high-speed machines. A 
floor of this kind is elastic and springy, no matter how 
thick it may be, while a joist floor, well bridged, is stiff 
and unyielding ; although it might be broken through in 
spots with heavy weights, or might yield more in supporting 
great loads. 

To put the same planking upon joists, that is usually 
laid on beams, would give a floor that is stronger in nine 
cases out of ten. But the custom is to put a thin floor, 
generally a single one, on joists, and a double one consisting 
of heavy plank for the first course with 1^-inch matched 
boards, upon beams. Without questioning the necessity 
of the double floor in the case of beams, and admitting that 
a joist floor is strong enough without it, it is certainly but 
fair to assume a floor of equal strength in the two cases, 
when making comparisons between the plans. 

A double floor is always best, a jointed one, say of 
li-inch thick lumber laid across the joist, and an inch 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 11 

matched floor lengthwise the building, making 2J- inches in 
all, is strong enough for ordinary upper floors that have 
only finishing machines to support. 

Ground floors on which the heavy traffic comes cannot 
be made too strong. The weight of heavy machines 
requires good foundation supports to keep them level and 
to prevent vibration, but the piling of lumber which is 
quite as heavy, and falls first in one place and then 
another, is the main thing to provide against. The weight 
of a machine is constant at one place, and when it is once 
levelled up would remain so ; but if two to five thousand 
feet of hard wood lumber is piled near it, unless the floor 
is very strong, the machine is listed over or twisted by 
depression of the floor. 

When there is no basement room, and nothing to hinder 
the building of piers beneath a floor, there is no excuse for 
having it weak enough to yield, and it only requires 
proper consideration at the time of erecting the building. 



STEAM POWEK FOR WOOD-WOKKING ESTABLISHMENTS. 

Among other subjects which a foreman or wood-machine 
operator is expected to understand is that of steam power. 
The steam power is an integral part of the machinery of the 
establishment, and should not be conducted as a kind of 
separate department from the rest. If it is, as a natural 
consequence delays and derangements will be of frequent 
occurrence. 

To keep an engine always running requires quick 
judgment and a fertility of expedients not often found 
with the class of engineers it is common to employ in 
wood-working mills. 



12 the" operator's handbook. 

In the United States the foremen and operators are, as 
a rule, well acquainted with steam power, and it often 
becomes a part of their duty to give suggestions and to 
make plans for furnaces, boilers, engines, and other details 
of the power department for wood shops. 

It is therefore considered here quite in place to devote a 
short chapter to the subject directed to some of the peculiar 
points to be observed in making plans for steam power in 
wood- manufacturing establishments. 

A wood-working factory, unlike a machine shop, has 
not the same facilities for repairing, and keeping fancy 
steam engines in order. The dust renders it almost im- 
possible to keep them clean or bright, and the work is so 
irregular, and so heavy, that the expense of finishing is 
much better expended in more careful fitting. 

The duty of a steam engine is not only more severe, but is 
more irregular than in almost any other business. As a 
rule, steam engines in wood-working establishments will 
be found working up to their full capacity, and require the 
packing and joints to be carefully kept in order. The duty 
is irregular in consequence of the sudden strain of starting 
planing machines, saws, and similar machines. The average 
duty is regular enough, so as to dispense with independent 
cut-off valves on the engine, which must always add to the 
complication, and liability to derangement and wear. A 
strong plain engine is what is required, without bright finish 
or ornament, but with well-fitted joints and large bearing 
surfaces made of the best material. 

The piston, cross-head connecting rod, and main 
bearings, are the vital parts to be looked after. The 
cross-head bearings are continually deprived of their oil 
by the fine dust that will find its way to the engine-room, 
no matter what precautions are taken to prevent it ; they 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK, 13 

should have either fibrous packing, oil feeders, or be made 
of wood. Gibs of lignum vita? will be found to wear well 
and be safe from danger of cutting the slides ; besides, 
they can be replaced at any time without detention for 
repairs, or a trip to the machine shop. 

An engine to drive wood machines requires a heavy 
balance wheel to ensure steady motion, it should have not 
less than 500 pounds of weight to each inch of diameter of 
the cylinder, and be as large in diameter as practicable. 

The piston speed should for the same object be from 
300 feet to 400 feet a minute. 

The boiler and steam furnace are matters of greater 
importance than the engine. They generate the power, 
the engine merely transmits it to the work, a thing not 
always thought of. 

In determining what variety of boiler to use, there are 
two leading conditions to be taken into account — the kind 
of water, and the kind of fuel to be used. 

Wood refuse alone is not a severe fuel, but when mixed 
with bituminous coal it makes a very hot fire, which from 
its intensity and its irregularity may be considered destruc- 
tive to a boiler ; to obviate this the boiler must be kept 
clean and should be made of simple form, admitting of 
easy access to every part. 

With hard lime water, which is commonly found through- 
out the middle States, this last-named condition becomes 
a necessity ; no complicated multiflued or fire-box boiler 
can last long when there is much lime in the feed water ; 
the advantage gained by the thinner metal in the tubes 
or by the fire-box is soon lost through incrustation, while 
the original cost, subsequent repairs, cost of cleaning, 
care, management, and risk, are all in favour of the plain 
cvlinder boiler without flues, or with flues that can be 



14 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

reached for the purpose of cleaning both internally and 
externally. 

The irregularity of firing with wood fuel when a regu- 
lating damper is not used makes steam room desirable ; 
this is seldom obtained in a multirlued boiler, where the 
contracted heating surface generally leads to a propor- 
tionately contracted steam space, and this, with the ordi- 
nary mode of firing, has the steam " up " and " down " 
continually, causing a derangement of the work, and having 
a most destructive effect upon the boiler itself from the 
intermittent strain upon the metal. The heating surface 
and steam room, or in other words the capacity of a boiler, 
should be one-third more for a wood manufactory where 
the cuttings and shavings are burned, than where coal is 
exclusively used for fuel. 

Although in opposition to a popular prejudice, the 
writer recommends for most cases a plain cylinder boiler 
without flues of any kind, carefully set in a first-class 
furnace, and made long enough to gain the full effect of 
the fire. There is, however, not much use in recommend- 
ing a thing which it is known will not be applied. There 
is a prejudice against cylinder boilers throughout most 
parts of the United States that prevents their use in a 
great many cases where they would give nearly as good a 
result as those with flues, and have other advantages 
which all must admit. 

Following the general practice of the middle and western 
States we present some views respecting the construction 
of furnaces for double-flued cylinder boilers. 

The plans set forth in the Figures which follow, have 
for general objects, a tight furnace, a cool place to fire, and 
a saving in first cost, with greater safety from fire. Such 
a furnace as is here represented requires better mason- work 
than ordinary furnaces, and should have a thorough 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK, 



15 



Fig. 5. 



lining of fire-brick about the fire-bed. The whole amount 
of brickwork is greater than when an iron fire-front 
is used. As a modification of steam fur- 
naces it may be considered adapted to wood- 
manufacturing establishments, because of 
its safety from fire and the avoidance of 
heat by the fireman; the latter, considering 
the attention and time that is needed to fire 
with shavings, is no small object. 

Fig. 5 shows a longitudinal section 
through a furnace built with its end oppo- 
site to, and combined with, the stack, so that 
no breeching is needed, and the firing is 
effected from the side, as seen in the side 
elevation, Fig. 6, without exposure to the 
heat, and with more safety from danger of 
fire. The ash-pit opens on the opposite side 
of the furnace generally, outside the build- 
ing, where there is no danger of the shavings 
catching fire while feeding the furnace or 
when the attendant is absent. A slide 
damper and the lever to work it are shown 
on the front of the stack, Fig. 6. 

A cross-section through the furnace at 



3 







the bridge wall is shown at Fig. 7, with the covering 
over the boiler to retain the heat and to guard against 
danger from sparks. The filling, or covering, is of sand, 



16 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



Boiler, 44 inches diameter, 28 feet long. 

Two flues, 1G inches diameter. 

Height of steam chimney, 60 to 75 feet. 

Area of flue in the chimney, 500 inches. 

Area of boiler flues, 400 inches. 

Area of throat at the bridge wall, 400 to 450 inches. 

Area of grate surface, 16 square feet. 

Area of the flue behind the bridge wall, 7 to 10 feet. 

Clearance on the sides of the boiler, 4£ inches. 

Clearance at back end of the boiler, 14 inches. 

Size of fire-door, 15 X 30 inches. 

Depth of ash-pit, 24 inches. 

Width of ash-pit, 42 inches. 

Ash-door (air inlet), 700 to 800 inches. 

Thickness of furnace wall:?, single, 13 inches. 

Thickness of furnace walls, if double, 17 inches. 

Depth from boiler to grate, 18 to 22 inches. 

Clearance between boiler and chimney, 24 inches. 

The fire-room floor to be level with the grates. 



earth, or ashes, instead of mortar and brick, which is liable 
to crack, and allow sparks to escape, when the damper 
is shut, which is one of the most common 
sources of fire about wood factories where 
steam power is employed. 

The following dimensions are for a furnace 
of this kind, arranged for about 40-horse 
power, and sufficient to drive a mill such as 
shown in Fisr. 7. 



Fig. 6 




A covering of loose earth or sand, as shown in Fig. 7, 
has other advantages besides the safety which it ensures 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



17 



Fig. 7. 




from fire ; it is cheap, easy to remove and renew, and a 
good non-conductor of heat. With a tight furnace covered 
in this manner, it is comparatively safe 
to erect drying rooms over a boiler, if 
the wood is kept at some distance above 
the furnace — say, 5 feet, or more. 

The usual method of firing with wood 
shavings is wrong ; there are seldom any 
means employed to regulate the fire or 
the quantity of steam generated, except 
by the amount of fuel that is fed to 
the furnace ; a custom not only wrong, because of the 
waste of fuel it occasions, but because of the irregularity 
it causes in the pressure of the steam and the increased 
amount of labour required for firing. Without some means 
of controlling the fire there is, at intervals, an intense heat 
which generates more steam than is needed; the fuel is 
soon burnt out, and the cold air allowed to pass through 
the bare grates, until the heating effect of the fire is in 
part counteracted. When fresh fuel is added it at once 
burns up, or, as is often the case with a strong draught, 
nearly all the lighter shavings are drawn over the 
bridge wall before they are burned. An experiment for 
a single day in the use of a regulating damper will be 
sufficient to convince anyone of its advantages. The 
furnace should be kept full of fuel, no matter what its 
character, and the steam regulated by the draught, either 
with a slide damper operated by the fireman, or what is 
much better, with a steam damper that regulates the 
draught without any attention. 

There are perhaps no simple contrivances that save 
so much labour and money, so uniformly perform their 
functions satisfactorily, are so much neglected and so 

c 



18 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

little known, as steam-damper regulators. No one who 
uses them would think of doing without them, and but 
few who do not have them ever think of their importance. 

There is no case where steam dampers are not needed, 
but nowhere else are they so important as to regulate the 
fire in the steam furnaces of wood-working establishments, 
where the fuel is of a mixed and inflammable character 
and cannot be fed with sufficient regularity to keep the 
steam at a uniform pressure. The original patent on these 
damper regulators has expired, and they are now sold at a 
low price by various makers. 

In arranging steam plant for wood manufactories pro- 
vision should be made to guard against freezing in the 
winter. Carrying out and bringing in such bulky material 
as lumber always makes a shop cold, especially in the 
lower story where the steam power is placed, and nothing 
is more annoying than to be froze up. A little over- 
sight in this way often leads to expensive delay, when a 
few dollars would have saved all if it had been considered 
in time. 

Another very important matter in the arrangement of 
steam furnaces about wood mills is to have them con- 
venient to fire. We may provide against heat by neither 
using a smoke breeching nor an iron fire front, but if the 
fireman has to stand and shovel in shavings through a 
small door breast high, only half has been done that can 
be accomplished to render the firing easy. The fire-doors 
should be level with the fire-room floor, so that the 
shavings and sawdust may be shoved into the furnace 
with a large scraper ; the doorway should be not less than 
30 inches wide, the doors well lined to keep them cool, 
and the whole floor in front of the furnace made of iron 
plates, so that the fuel may lie about the door without 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 19 

danger of catching fire, and avoid the trouble of con- 
tinually sweeping up, which would otherwise be neces- 
sary. There is not the least objection to arranging a 
furnace in this manner, in fact there is a decided gain 
in convenience of access to every part, except to the 
ash-pit, which is but a small matter. 



SHAFTING FOR WOOD SHOPS. 



If any machine operator of long experience, or, for that 
matter, of short experience, were asked what occasioned 
the greater number of accidents about wood shops and 
what caused most delays, he would be sure to reply, 
" The line shafting." 

For a shaft to break by crystallization from bending — 
to be torn loose by winding belts — to have pulleys or 
couplings come loose, is a common cause of detention and 
expense. The couplings are mentioned last, although if 
ranked as to the amount of detention and trouble they 
cause, they should have been named first ; but whether it 
be coupling, pulleys, hangers, or shafting, the trouble is 
generally with the main line. 

If we go to a machinist who manufactures shafting, 
and inquire whether there is any special difficulty in the 
way of making it safe from derangement or accident, he 
will answer, " Certainly not." 

Granting this, we have either a paradox, or very bad 
practice, and as a paradox is rare in mechanics, the latter 
is the safer conclusion. 

Shafts for transmitting motion and power are the oldest 
of mechanical appliances, and should, as we would suppose, 
for this reason, be among the most perfect, but this is a 

c 2 



20 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

claim to which they can by no means pretend ; and the 
great diversity of the plans for couplings, hangers, and 
bearings by different makers attests the fact that the 
manufacture of shafting is by no means a perfected art. 

There are but few places where line shafting is so severely 
used as in wood shops; the usually small diameter, with 
the high speed, the wide belts, and the heavy duty that 
it generally has to perform, are all conditions that are 
more or less avoided in other manufacturing establish- 
ments. 

Machines when suddenly started offer a resistance in 
proportion to the power employed in driving them, and 
measured by this rule there are but few machines in 
common use so heavy to start and causing so great a 
strain upon the shafting, as planing machines and circular 
saws. There are of course many that require as much 
power, but to include all conditions, such as the speed of 
the belts and the usual means of shifting them, with the 
sudden stopping which often occurs, there is hardly a 
parallel among manufacturing machinery. A planing 
machine or saw that consumes eight to ten horse power 
to drive it will have the belts shifted instantly from the 
loose to the tight pulley, and the only reason the shafting 
does not give way is that such machines are generally 
but weakly belted, and the belts slip until the machine 
gets into motion. The same thing in effect occurs in over- 
feeding saws, so that the shafting is continually subjected 
to a succession of torsional strains, that will soon search 
out the bad jobs in fitting couplings and pulleys. 

In preparing plans for a wood-working mill, the shafting 
should, for reasons already given, go across the building 
whenever practicable. By belting from one line to the 
other at one side of the room the whole power is not trans- 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



21 



mitted through the couplings, as in the case of one con- 
tinuous shaft to drive all the machinery. The work is 
also divided more evenly throughout the several lines, and 
this does away with the supposed necessity of having the 
line shafting in sections of various diameters, which pre- 
vents the interchange of pulleys from one shaft to another, 
and often leads to expense and trouble. 

The first section of shafting carrying the main driving 
pulley should have a diameter equal to one-fifth the width 
of the main driving belt, and be supported at each side 
of the main pulley ; to make a rule, this section should 
not be more than twenty diameters long between bearings. 

Fig. 8 shows a good arrangement of line shafting for 
a mill about 50 feet by 150 feet, with three cross lines of 
shafting. 

Fig. 8. 




^References. 
1. — The main driving pulley. 
2. — Belt to the engine. 
3 and 4. — Second driving pulleys. 
5 and 6. — Third driving pulleys. 



Having the first or driving sections 6 feet long, and four 
additional sections in each line 10 feet long, is a good 
arrangement for a mill of the dimensions given. 

The advantages gained by this plan over that of having 



22 the operator's handbook. 

a continuous line or a single line running the other way 
of the building are :< — 

First. — Only a part of the power is transmitted through 
the couplings. 

Second. — The speed of the different lines can be varied 
and to some extent accommodate machines of different 
classes, which can be arranged with this view. 

Third. — A part of the shafting can be stopped for 
repairs, or to put on belts or pulleys without stopping the 
whole ; in other words, about two-thirds of the works may 
be kept going in such cases. 

Fourth. — With this arrangement the shafting can be of 
a uniform diameter throughout, except the first or driving 
sections. 

Fifth. — The machines stand lengthwise the building, 
and the course of the stuff is in this direction, as it should 
be, and as it must be, for it is no uncommon thing to find 
planing and other machines driven with quarter turn 
belting to accomplish this, when the shafting is placed the 
other way. 

For wood shops, 2J-inch and 3-inch shafting are the best 
sizes; 2J-inch shafts are as small as any should be, and 
they should not, without some important reason, exceed 3 
inches in diameter. 

A line of 2|~inch shafting will run safely and well at 
250 revolutions a minute, or a 3-inch line will run 200 
revolutions a minute, if the bearings are properly made 
and it is kept in line. 

Pulleys should be turned true and balanced — balanced 
perfectly, no matter what their speed. 

The effect of an unbalanced pulley is as its speed, but 
it is never known where pulleys may have to be used in 
changing, and the only safe rule is to have every pulley 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 23 

carefully balanced, no matter what the speed may be at 
which they run. 

Pulleys should be as light as possible, both as a matter 
of economy and convenience. Our best makers are, how- 
ever, making them light enough, so that a specification 
as to weight need hardly be given with an order for pulleys. 

As to couplings, they should be adjustable or com- 
pressive, not keyed on, or wedged on, for only such a key 
should be used as will not keep a solid coupling on. 
Adjustable couplings are now very generally used for line 
shafting in America, and certainly there is no place where 
they are more needed than in our wood shops, where there 
is such a continual changing and adding of machines and 
pulleys, that the shaft has constantly to be disconnected 
for the purpose. 

Hangers to support the line shafting in wood shops 
should always have their bearings pivoted, and adjustable 
vertically. The heavy loads of lumber that are piled on 
upper floors depress them between the posts, and a line 
shaft requires to be often levelled up. If the bearings 
have a vertical adjustment in the hanger frames, and are 
moved by screws, as they should be, it is a small matter to 
take a ladder, a level, and a wrench, and go along the 
line to level it. A hundred feet of shafting may be 
adjusted in this manner in an hour, if the larger belts 
are thrown off to relieve it from strain, and the shafting 
is straight and true. The operation is so simple and so 
generally understood that it need not be explained here. 

Shafting is not liable to get out of line horizontally, 
unless from the strain of belts ; it is, however, well to line 
up as often as twice a year, to be sure that all is right. It 
has been in times past a common thing to allow shafting 
to run as long as it would go, without adjusting, and 



24 



THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 



then stop the works for a day or two to line up ; which 
is unnecessary and only a loss of time. A shaft may be 
levelled by almost anyone when the hangers are properly 
made, and can be done at noon, or after stopping in the 
evening, without interfering with the business at all. 



Fig. 9. 




References. 
D. — The ceiling, to which the hangers are bolted. 
a a a. — The line shaft. 

ccc. — Plumb-lines resting against the shaft, near to the bearings. 
dd. — A horizontal line stretched below the shaft. 



Fig. 10. 



To line a shaft horizontally is 
but little more trouble if the bear- 
ings or hangers can be moved in 
that direction. 

Suspended hangers should have 
the bolt-holes slotted for an inch 
or more of movement, and post 
hangers should have movable bear- 
ings that permit side adjustment. 

Assuming that there is some 
means of moving the shaft hori- 
zontally, a good plan of adjusting it is by suspending a 
number of plumb-lines that will bear against one side of 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 25 

the shaft, and reach down low enough to be sighted from 
the floor, as shown in Figs. 9, 10; or for greater accuracy 
a strong line may be stretched about 5 feet from the floor, 
as at d d, to gauge the plumb-lines from. 

This lower line can at the beginning be set within about 
one-eighth of an inch of the two plumb-lines at the ends, 
and the rest can then be adjusted to the same position by 
moving the bearings ; or the end bearings can be also 
adjusted, as the case may require. 

A ball of strong packing thread, and half-a-dozen or 
more old screw nuts for the plumb-lines, make the outfit, 
and the job can be well executed, at but little expense 
and time, if the hangers are properly made, and erected 
so as to be adjusted without trouble. 

This kind of work must be to a great extent a matter 
of judgment ; anyone who depends upon special know- 
ledge, or what he may have seen done and been instructed 
in, will not be so successful in millwrighting as he would 
be if he proceeds boldly, using his own judgment as to 
plans, and reasoning thoroughly about the work before 
beginning it. 

There are many ways of adjusting line shafting ; some 
of them tedious and expensive, and some useless. The 
one suggested is the most simple that can be given, and 
is accurate enough for all practical purposes. 



EKECTING COUNTEESHAFTING. 

If a machine operator or even a regular millwright 
were to be set at a job to test his judgment and abilities, 
there is perhaps no other that could be selected better 
than erecting a countershaft. 



26 the operator's handbook. 

The ways of erecting, all of which may in the end 
produce the same result, are so various as to render it 
difficult to give rules that will be generally approved of. 
The advantages of the different plans can only be tested 
by the time required to do the work, assuming, of course, 
that it is to be properly done in all cases. It may require 
two, and often requires three, men a whole day to put up 
a countershaft ; which in another case will be put up in 
two hours by one man, assisted only in holding and 
lifting. 

In erecting a countershaft, what have first to be deter- 
mined are the position of the machine it is to drive, and 
whether the belting is clear. When a line shaft is crowded 
with pulleys, it often requires great care to place the 
countershafts so that belts will not interfere with each 
other ; it is no uncommon thing for a shaft to be put up, 
and then the discovery made that belts interfere with 
others on the opposite side of the line shaft. 

Be careful in starting, that is the great point, not only 
in putting up shafts, but in all other mechanical opera- 
tions that involve calculations and accurate measurements. 

For example, let us suppose that a countershaft is to be 
erected, and go through the various operations, one at a 
time. Beginning with the hanger-plates, these should be 
of hard wood, long enough to reach from two to four 
joists, as the weight of the shaft and belting may re- 
quire ; their width should be from one and one-half to 
twice the width of the hanger base, and their thickness, as 
an approximate rule, one-fifth the drop of the hanger. 
When the joists are of hemlock, or harder wood, and 
three inches or more thick, almost any kind of shafting 
can be hung with safety on wood screws, or lag screws, as 
they are sometimes called, passing through the hanger- 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



27 



plate, and screwed directly into the joist. These screws 
should be of good size, not less than § inch diameter in 
any case, and long enough to pass into the joist a distance 
at least equal to the thickness of the hanger-plate. A 
plate three inches thick requires, with cast-iron washers, 
screws that are seven inches long; if one in each joist, 
f- inch diameter, if two in each joist, f- inch or f inch will 
do for ordinary countershafts. 

Having the hanger-plates ready, next mount the shaft 
in the hangers and invert them, to stand on a level floor, 
Fig. 11, and after settling the shaft to see that the 
bearings are not cramped, and that the hangers stand 
fair on their base, measure between the bolt holes accu- 
rately, or what is better, cut a short strip of wood to the 
length between the centres, marked c in the Figure. 

Fig. 11. 




Floor. 

If the shaft is to be placed to suit some pulley on the 
line shaft, measure from the centre of the hanger next 
the loose pulley the distance to the centre between the 
tight and loose pulleys ; this should also be marked on 
the stick, as the base for the position of the shaft, we 
will term it the driving belt line, it is the distance 
marked a, Fig. 11. 

This belt line must then be determined and scribed on 



28 THE operator's handbook. 

the joist ; it is easily found from a pulley, or by measuring 
from a wall or girder that crosses the line shaft at right 
angles. 

Placing the measuring stick with this base mark, the 
centre between the pulleys, upon the belt line, next set 
out at each end for the wood screws or bolts that are to 
hold the hanger-plates, bore the hanger-plates and screw 
them up at one end, but not hard against the joist, leave a 
half-inch or more for packing, when levelling up ; then 
set the plates at right angles across the joist, and mark 
the position of the joists so as to bore through the plates 
for the other screws, which can be done by swinging the 
plates around, and without taking them down. Again 
set the plates across the joist as accurately as possible by 

Fig. 12. 




means of a carpenter's square, and mark the holes on the 
joist for the remaining wood screws. In screwing up the 
plates they can be brought level by furrowing down on 
their top, with pieces of wood split in two or notched to 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 29 

accommodate the wood screws, placed between the plates 
and the joist. To mount the hangers, if they have pivot 
bearings, as all ought to have, bore through the hanger- 
plate for one bolt by measurement; no great accuracy 
is needed in this, unless the shaft has to come laterally to 
a particular line, which is seldom the case. Screw up 
one hanger with a through bolt, then remove the pulleys 
from the shaft, put it in the hangers, then prop the loose 
one, or both, if needed, with a brace resting on the floor 
or a stage, as shown at Fig. 12. For the next operation, 
procure a pole or strip of wood c, Fig. 13, long enough to 



. -¥* 


Fig. 13. 


C 




; uyi 


1* 









reach from the countershaft to the line shaft, cut a notch 
in the end, or drive a strong spike in the side, and let 
it rest on the line shaft, at a, and extend to the counter- 
shaft at d. By moving alternately from one end of the 
countershaft to the other, and driving the loose hanger to 
adjust it, a parallel is obtained, much truer than by lines 
and measurement, and in a tenth part of the time. The 
pole can be marked at the centres of the countershaft 
at each trial until the ends correspond. Then bore the 
three remaining holes for the hanger-bolts, put the pul- 
leys on the shaft, and mount the whole in place. Level 
the shaft by using a plumb line alongside the pulleys, 
which, if they are at all true, will be found a more accurate 
plan than to use a spirit level on the shaft itself. The 
job is now finished, and there is a question as to which 
is the greater labour, to erect a shaft or to describe the 
operation. With a good pair of trestles at hand, and 
wood screws and hanger-plates ready, an ordinary counter- 



30 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

shaft for belts from three to six inches wide should be put 
up in from one and one-half to three hours' time, by one 
man and an assistant. The time of erecting, and the 
accuracy with which a shaft can be set, as well as the 
facility with which it can be kept in line, depend greatly 
upon how the hangers are made. All bearings in wood- 
working establishments should be pivoted ; the depression 
of floors, which must take place from piling stuff, is 
continually altering the bearings in a greater or less 
degree, and if they are rigid, the bearing is spoiled by 
the least change. Such nicety is not required at low 
speeds, but when shafts carrying heavy strained belts have 
a speed of 750 or more revolutions a minute, every pre- 
caution must be observed to have them run without 
heating. If the bearings are pivoted, and arranged to be 
adjusted vertically on the hanger, it is but little trouble to 
keep shafts level. The bolt holes in the hanger-plate if 
slotted to allow for horizontal adjustment, will answer for 
pendent hangers without having the bearings movable in 
the brackets. 

The transverse strength of the brackets should be suffi- 
cient to break the belting, if not, there is always danger 
of the whole being torn down by the winding of belts ; and 
as the belts are generally twice as strong as those used in 
other shops, the hangers should be the same. 



SETTING MACHINES. 



Setting machines belongs to the same class of work as 
erecting shafting, and is much the same thing — a matter 
of judgment, rather than one of acquired skill. 

The only general rule that can be given, is to set them 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 31 

level, with their shafts and spindles parallel to the line 
shaft. There are, however, many plans of doing this, and 
a word on the subject will not be amiss. 

When a new shop is built, and the line shaft erected, 
or when its position is determined, and before it is 
erected, each floor of the building should be scribed with 
what we will term a machine line, that is, a base from 
which the engine, the line shaft, countershafts, and 
machines may be set, independent of each other, and yet 
with accuracy. To do this, take the centre line through 
the building both ways, and scribe it on the floors, not with 
a scribe awl alone, but with a wagon maker's scribing 
hook, that will cut a deep groove. After striking with 
a chalk line, tack down a straight edge, and score the 
lines with the scribing hook, so that they will remain 
as long as the floor lasts, or at least as long as machines 
are to be added. Plumb up or down, as the case may be, 
and scribe each floor in this way ; whether machines are 
to be set on floors or not, there will sure to be some use 
for these base lines. If there are ground floors, scribe 
the lines on the walls, drive stakes, or put them on the 
ceiling ; have them somewhere, in each story, and in each 
room. When these lines are once made, the setting of 
machines becomes a simple matter, for lines parallel to, 
or at right angles to, them are easy to lay out ; and shafts 
or spindles can be set true by measurement as in Fig. 13, 
if they are first levelled. 

The common practice when a shaft or machine is to be 
erected is to square it from something which has pre- 
viously been set by something else, on the principle of 
measuring by succession, a practice no mechanic would 
think of in other cases. 

If machines have iron frames and stand on masonry, 



32 the operator's handbook. 

they can be fixed by running melted lead or brimstone 
under the feet after setting and levelling them. On earth 
floors, however, it is not necessary to build masonry for 
any except reciprocating machines. Stakes of locust, 
cedar, or mulberry wood, set in the earth from three 
feet to four feet deep, and then sawn off level on top, 
make almost as good a foundation for any machine as 
masonry. It is, however, exceptional to find machines 
set on the ground, a plan that has nothing to recom- 
mend it, for when attempted there has to be a floor over 
a great part of the room, that usually costs as much as a 
complete floor would, if it had been laid down at the 
beo-innin^. 



BELTING FOE WOOD MACHINES Y. 

Eules that apply to belts in general are applicable 
to those used in wood-working establishments, yet there 
are some conditions to be taken into account that are 
peculiar and exceptional. The belting is dry in all cases, 
and often has shavings or sawdust passing under the sur- 
faces, preventing contact on the pullej T s, and so reducing 
the tractile power. Besides, the belting moves at such 
high speeds that it prevents contact on the pulleys, espe- 
cially when of small diameter. 

For these reasons, the belting should be much wider 
than would be needed to transmit an equal amount of 
power in other establishments. 

Belts to drive wood machines require to be at least one- 
third wider than for metal -cutting or other machines 
where the belts can be kept soft or moist. Even twice 
the width will not be too much in some cases. 

For main belts, india-rubbre is preferable to leather. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

It lias advantages in driving capacity, in runnr 
and, if well made, it is more durable ; its merits 
a rule, not understood, although it has been in u& 
the last twenty years. The ordinary gum belting of c 
merce may not be as durable as leather ; both the webbn 
and the gum may be of poor quality ; but if an order * 
sent to a first-class house for a good gum belt, heavy enough 
for its work, there is no leather belt that will equal it. The 
tractile power in a wood shop, where the surfaces must run 
dry, is at least one-third greater than that of leather belts, 
and the tension can be proportionately less, or the belt so 
niuch narrower to do the same work. The best plan, how- 
ever, is to keep the width and avoid tension, which, if too 
great, is apt to break the belt joints and heat the bear- 
ings of the shafts. 

For joining gum belting there is no better plan than 
with malleable iron hooks. Clamps, with plates on the 
back, and other contrivances of a similar kind, make the 
joint too rigid, and also make a disagreeable noise in 
passing over metal pulleys. Cement joints that are gene- 
rally recommended by the manufacturers of this belting 
cannot well be made by those unskilled in the matter, and 
are not necessary except for heavy driving belts. 

What is wanted is a smooth joint, quickly and cheaply 
made, and one that will not pull out ; such a joint can be 
made with hooks. A belt, 12 inches wide, can in this way 
be put together in a good workmanlike manner in ten 
minutes, and the joint will stand for a long time under any 
strain that a belt ought to bear, whether it be of gum or 
leather. 

To make the joint, first cut the belt square ; then lay out 
the lines for the holes, so that when the ends of the belt 
are placed together the distance between them will be a 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

re than the length at a, Fig. 14. Punch the holes, 

p the ends, as in Fig. 15, and drive the hooks by 

ig a bar of iron, a hammer, or some other weighty 

3 beneath the belt. After the points of the hooks are 

ough the belt at both ends, the joint can be butted 

gether by bending the belt backward from the joint 

antil the ends will pass, and then straightening it. To 

Fig. 14. 



(T^D 


] * 


/ 


/ # 


• 


J • 


/ 


( • 


• 


/ • 


J 



Fig. 15. 




=& 



Fig. 15a. 



clinch the hooks use an anvil bar, Fig. 15a, closing first 
one end and then the other with a light hammer, so that 
the belt will be firmly clamped, hut not cut, with the hooks. 
In this last operation lies the secret of making these 
hook joints successfully ; if the hooks are closed properly 
they will not tear out the holes like lacing, but will 
pull the belt asunder at the holes, proving the joint to be 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 35 

as strong as any other portion of the belt, less the 
weakening effect of the holes. If the hooks are hammered 
down too hard they cut into the belt and weaken it. 
After the joint is closed the hooks may be bent to conform 
to the curvature of the pulleys they run over. If one 
is large and the other small, the hooks should be bent 
to fit a curve between them in size, or, if different, to fit 
the smaller pulley. 

That belt hooks have not become more popular is owing 
to the careless manner in which they have been used. A 
belt may be fastened in almost any manner with lacing, and 
hold for a time ; but it is not so with hooks ; they must 
be put in carefully to stand. Properly done, they make 
one of the best joints, and if improperly done, perhaps the 
very worst. 

The size of the hooks must be adapted to the thickness 
and width of the belting ; the distance from the joint to the 
holes should be at least equal to three thicknesses of 
the belt. 

The width of driving belts and their length should be 
such, that when at angles lower than 30 degrees they will 
do their work without tension on the slack side. By no 
tension, is meant that the belt should be loose enough to 
run in a curve. Main driving belts are here alluded to, 
and particular stress is laid on this matter, for no good 
result can be attained with a heavy belt that is not 
capable of doing its work mainly by its weight. 

Speaking of weight, it may be remarked that in making 
comparisons of cost between leather and india-rubber belt- 
ing, the weight should be taken into account. As a rule, 
single leather belts wider than 6 to 8 inches are not to be 
compared in weight to gum belts, and gum belts of two and 
three ply, with heavy cotton webbing, correspond to double 

d 2 



36 the operator's handbook. 

leather belts, which are usually double the price. A leather 
belt wider than 8 inches should always be double, no matter 
what its purpose, unless it is to run at a very high speed 
on small pulleys, which need never occur if machinery is 
properly arranged. A single leather belt will not keep 
straight; and speaking of the ordinary belting of com- 
merce, the wider it is, the greater the tendency to become 
crooked and irregular. 

For the extreme high speeds sometimes necessary in 
wood machines, belts of cotton webbing can be used with 
advantage. Heavy saddler's webbing coated with beeswax 
makes a belt that is very light, and has a high tractile 
power. When used the pulleys must be true and smooth, 
and the belts kept clear of flanges, or anything that will 
produce a rubbing action, as this soon destroys them. 

In the change from round belts, once almost exclusively 
used, to flat ones, we have no doubt gone too far ; a round 
belt is in many cases much cheaper and better. Such belts 
are extensively used in England and on the Continent, 
but are rarely seen on American machines. For the first 
movers to drive the feed works of planers and other ma- 
chines, they are better than flat belts, especially when 
cones are used for graduating the speed, and when they 
have to run through shavings or sawdust. 

In the treatment of belts for wood machines nearly all 
that can be done is to keep them soft; a coat of castor- 
oil now and then laid on with a brash is a good plan for 
softening them. Tallow is as good, but more difficult to 
apply. For gum belts no surface coating can be so good 
as the india-rubber itself, w r hich is soluble in, and infused 
by animal oils ; as they do not need softening they should 
be left alone, as the safest plan. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 37 



HANDLING MATEKIAL. 



What proportion of the labour of a wood-working esta- 
blishment is directed to moving and handling material, 
cannot be stated, but that it is a fair share of the whole 
anyone must admit. Handling material is one of those 
things which cannot be done to any extent by power ; and in 
machine operations, the greater part of the labour is usually 
handling the stuff. There can be little information given 
about handling long lumber, but the following suggestions 
in regard to short stuff or work in process will enable the 
operator to get along without so much handling, and car- 
rying the stuff from place to place. 

In arranging machines, always set them so as to leave 
truck-room between and around them ; no matter how 
crowded the room, this should be done; the floor-room 
that will be saved by piling stuff on trucks will more than 
make up for room lost in the passages. 

In furniture and chair shops, carriage shops, turning 
shops, door, sash and blind shops, and in nearly all of our 
wood-working factories, the material can be kept on trucks 
instead of on the floor, with two important advantages 
gained; it may at any time be moved from place to 
place, and can readily be reached without stooping to the 
floor. 

We may also mention the system, order, saving from 
bruises, and the facility for counting pieces, as objects 
gained by the truck system, which is suggested. 

The trucks for machine rooms should be made of uniform 
size for each, story ; there is no use in depending upon a 
particular truck being kept for a special use ; the rule is, 
to take the first one at hand, and there is but little use in 
having different sizes. These trucks can be built as shown 



38 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



in Figs. 16, 17, for upper floors, where the stuff is cut out 
and in process, and for anything except heavy loads of 
lumber, which require a truck that is lower in height and 



much stronger. 



The main frame should be of hard wood, 
Fig. 16. 



! 1 i r 



i i i i 11 



© 



CD 



© 





J^L 


r?=n 




Fig. 


17. 




ft=i 


1 A-W 






















;■ 


L 


















J 


r 


















1 
























t^r 


JJJ 










ly 


J V 





about 4x4 inches, the cross rails set in 3J- inches from 
the end, with tenons to keep them in place. Two through- 
bolts | in. diameter along the inside of the cross rails 
hold the frame firmly together, and yet allow it to spring 
in passing over blocks or uneven floors. 

The common mistake in making trucks is in having 
them too rigid ; they will not last long or work well, unless 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



39 



made to yield at the corners. The planking across the top 
can be nailed to the side rails; it should be 1J or 1^ in. 
thick, of white wood — sycamore, or some other tongh wood, 
that will stand bruising, and will not split ; even pine is 
better than ash or oak. The standards should be ar- 
ranged to go either at the ends or on the sides, as shown in 
the plan, Fig. 17. Figs. 18 and 19 show a complete set of 
irons for a truck 4 feet to 5 feet long and 2 feet to 3 feet 



Fig. 18. 



Fig. 19. 




r 



\1 



wide, consisting of four cast-iron brackets with a flange at 
the top to be fastened with wood screws ; the swivel piece 
may be cast of malleable iron ; the small screw is to keep 
the swivel from falling out when the truck is lifted ; the 
roller can be of cast iron; the staples are for the sides 
and ends of the truck, as in Fig. 17 ; these staples should 
be forged from iron about 1 J x f in., and large enough to 
receive a tenon 2\ x 1J in. 

With from six to twelve of these trucks on a floor, or 
at least one for each machine, half the handling, and 
nearly all the carrying, is saved. In working stuff, two 
are needed at each machine, so that the pieces can be 
taken from one and placed on another as they are 
worked. 



40 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

When material is to be moved from story to story, the 
trucks can be run upon the platform of the hoist, and 
with their loads raised or lowered to where they are 
wanted. A boy with one of these trucks will move a 
thousand pounds the length or width of the shop, and up 
or down through several stories, at the same cost that a 
single load can be carried by a porter, to say nothing of the 
damage by having the stuff thrown down upon the floor, 
and the loss of time required to gather it up again. This 
system of roller trucks is to some extent in use ; but it is 
exceptional, and rarely ever carried out so as to realize 
the greatest advantage from it. 

A system half carried out is as no system at all, one 
or two trucks in a large shop are only an annoyance ; the 
men lose more time during a year in searching or wait- 
ing for them, and in disputing about them, than a dozen 
additional new ones would cost. 

To say that a wood-working establishment which has 
more than one story should have a power hoist, is to state 
what everyone knows, but not a thing which everyone has 
estimated the advantages of. The question of saving and 
earnings will be considered farther on, and here we will 
only say, have a hoist whenever there is work for it to do. 
A wood platform or cage, with a wire rope and winding drum 
driven by belts and a tangent wheel, is a cheap and simple 
plan for such hoists ; the gearing is now furnished by dif- 
ferent makers like any other machines, self-contained and 
ready to erect, including the cage and guides if wanted. 
Be sure to have a reliable safety catch to prevent falling, 
and avoid all ingenious triggers and self-acting apparatus 
that can be dispensed with. Put up a caution notice with 
directions for operating the machinery at each hatch, and 
leave the rest to the judgment and good sense of the work- 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 41 

men. There is no machinery so dangerous as that which 
pretends to dispense with care and caution on the part of 
the operator ; and the greater number of accidents with 
hoists come from that class known as the absolute safety. 
Accidents rarely happen with the old outside chain hoist, 
although it is without question very dangerous ; the reason 
is that we watch it and run no risks. 

In connection with the arrangement of a mill at Fig. 1, 
a tramway through the centre of the building is men- 
tioned. This plan is a good one, and the best and 
cheapest in a large mill or car shop; but in furniture 
factories, chair factories, door and sash shops, and jobbing 
mills, caster trucks such as those just described for 
machine rooms, only stronger, are even more convenient 
than the tramway. 

The general means of moving material may be said to 
consist in tramways for horizontal movement in straight 
lines, hoists for vertical movement, and caster trucks for 
distributing in irregular lines ; however, in any but the 
largest mills, and for any but long and heavy, lumber, 
the horizontal movement and the distributing can be 
combined, and the fixed tramway dispensed with. In 
such cases the trucks to be used in connection with 
cutting out saws, planing machines, and for first floor 
purposes generally, should be framed of stuff about 5x5 
inches, and be correspondingly heavy in all their parts; 
they should be from six to eight feet long, with three 
wheels instead of four, the two forward wheels on a fixed 
axis, and the rear one swivelled. Such trucks should be 
strong enough to carry at least 2J tons, and their wheels 
six to eight inches diameter, with from 2J to 3± inches 
face. There is nothing peculiar about their construction 
that calls for diagrams to explain. 



42 the operator's handbook. 

By laying a cheap plank floor from the mill room to, 
or through, the board yard, such trucks can be rim out 
and loaded at any distance from the shop, and men will 
prefer to push in a thousand feet of stuff in this way to 
carrying two boards that will not weigh 50 lbs. each. 

This simple matter of trucks is dwelt upon because it is 
perhaps the most neglected of all things about wood 
shops. We exhaust our ingenuity in devising machines to 
work stuff at a rapid rate, but make no provision to bring 
the stuff to or from the machines ; and with the exception 
of the large lumber mills along the north-western Lake 
coast, and the very largest mills in cities, it is unusual to 
find any means of handling material that at all com- 
pares with the completeness in other details. 

Of tramways little need be said ; all know what they 
are for, and how they are made. The difference from 
trucks is that they can be used in one line only, and that 
the cars require less power to move them than trucks 
with casters. In many cases it may be expedient to 
have both, a tramway and trucks, but whether both, or 
even additional means of handling, are required, be sure 
and provide whatever will save carrying stuff or throwing 
it upon the floors. 



CLEARING WOOD SHOPS. 



Clearing shops of cuttings, shavings, and sawdust to a 
certain extent belongs to the same branch as moving and 
handling material, and the same rules will apply in many 
respects. 

There is, however, this difference, that from recent 
improvements it is probable that the driving power will 
in future be used to clear shops, while we can hardly 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 4d 

hope to have it handle the lumber. There is at this time, 
in fact, no need of saying anything about plans for clearing- 
shops except by pneumatic fans, for they are in general 
use, and we may safely say, where they are not in use 
they should be or will be. These pneumatic conductors 
are now so well known that it will not be necessary to 
go into a description of their general arrangement, which 
the reader is presumed to be familiar with. The writer 
having been personally concerned in the introduction of 
this system in England and the continent of Europe, 
and having built pneumatic apparatus, that have been 
in constant operation since 1862, has no fears in recom- 
mending the system as practical and economical, apart 
from its convenience and its sanitary advantages in getting 
rid of the fine dust so prejudicial to health, and one of the 
most objectionable features of operating wood machines. 

The fans must be plain, strong machines, large enough 
to perform their work easily ; the vanes strong enough to 
break up sticks that may pass into the fan. The bearings 
should be outside the casing and pipes ; a common plan 
is to have one bearing inside the induction pipe, where 
the oil is at once absorbed, and there is a continual 
danger of fire from the bearing heating. Fans made for 
ordinary blowing purposes are not fitted for this use. We 
give at Figs. 20 and 21, side and front elevations of the 
fans used in England. 

The casing is cast in one piece \ in. thick ; the vanes 
are of forged or malleable iron ; the shaft is If in. diameter 
of steel running in brass bearings outside the casing. 

The size of the fans for clearing wood shops must 
depend upon the number of inlets, openings, or, as we 
will call them, leaks into the induction pipes. A blower 
20 in. diameter and 5-inch vanes, would clear the largest 
mill, so far as conducting the shavings and dust, but could 



44 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



not maintain a current strong enough, after supplying the 
inlets, to lift the shavings. For this reason, it is easy to 
see the importance of having the collecting hoods fit 




THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 45 

well, and avoiding all possible leaks into the pipes. The 
writer is at the present time engaged in experiments 
to test the practicability of exhausting the air from 
the magazine by fans so as to induce currents in the 
collecting pipes and avoid the necessity of passing the 
shavings through the fan. It is almost impossible to give 
any rule for the size of pipes without assuming some 
special premises to base such dimensions on. We will, 
however, say that starting with 5 inches diameter for the 
smallest size for a main pipe, there should be added at 
least 10 inches of sectional area for each machine that is 
connected, except surfacing or dimension planing ma- 
chines, which will need twice as much. 

Galvanized or zinc-coated sheet iron from 18 to 24 
gauge, is a good material for conducting-pipes. 

The elbows should be made with a radius of 10 inches 
or more on the short side, and everything avoided in the 
arrangement of the pipes that will endanger their choking. 
When machines are not in use, it is well to close off the 
induction pipes with a ball of paper or waste ; dampers 
or valves can be made in the pipes for this purpose, but if 
constructed so that they will not obstruct the pipe when it 
is in use, they are expensive, and unnecessary except for 
floor pipes, noticed farther on. 

It is often desirable to have the fine dust separated 
from the shavings and sawdust; even if they are only 
to be used for fuel, and the magazine or shavings room 
should be arranged to allow the dust to pass off at the 
top, as in Fig. 22. 

The magazines should be fireproof throughout, and 
extend above the building to such a height that the 
dust will not be carried through the windows after it 
has escaped at the top. As it is often expensive to 
carry the brickwork high enough to effect this object, a 



46 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



sheet-iron flue or uptake 
The sectional area of 



Fig. 22. 




can be used, as shown in Fig. 22. 
this flue when used should be 
from ten to fifteen times as 
large as the pipe leading into 
the magazine, otherwise the 
current will be strong enough 
to not only carry off the fine 
dust but the lighter shavings 
from the benches. 

There should be a swing 
trap-door at the bottom of the 
uptake, or at the top of the 
brickwork if an iron flue is not 
used, that can be instantly 
closed from the outside if the 
shavings in the magazine should 
catch fire. This trap can be 
pivoted on a shaft to extend 
out through the brickwork, and 
be operated by a lever on the 
outside. 

The discharging door below 
should be closed by means of 
a sliding iron plate, counter- 
weighted and working in 
grooves, so that it will rest 
on the shavings when the 
magazine is full, or partially 
full, prevent the dust from 
escaping, and at the same time 
prevent any circulation of air 
in the case of fire. 

Inlets or openings, to take 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



47 



off sweepings, should be provided at suitable places for 

clearing the floors. If opening downward the orifices 

should be at least as small as the pipe, and never made in 

a hopper form, as they will soon be clogged with blocks or 

sticks. 

Fig. 23. 




Floor, 



A better plan for these floor openings for sweepings, is 
to bring down a pipe from the main overhead, cutting 
it away at one side, Fig. 23, and closing the aperture 
with a slide door when not in use; this plan is much 



48 the operator's handbook. 

better for many reasons than inlets cut vertically through 
the floors. The pipe can come down alongside a post or 
the wall, not interfering with the room ; arranged in this 
way there is but little danger of its choking, or having 
lost tools, nails, or blocks, get into it. For conducting saw- 
dust alone small tin pipes, 2 to 3 inches diameter, will do. 

In erecting a set of pipes and apparatus of this kind 
to clear a shop, the person in charge should avail himself 
of any examples that may be in the vicinity, if they are 
good and have been successful ; it is quite a new thing, 
although extensively applied, and there is a great deal yet 
to be learned by experience. 

The danger of fire from this apparatus, once much 
apprehended, was owing to the use of wooden conducting 
pipes, pockets and corners, where fine dust would accumu- 
late, and then explode by a spark communicated from a 
hot bearing, lucifer matches being dropped among the 
shavings, or by sparks from the fan striking grit or 
nails. The inflammable and explosive nature of wood 
dust is but little understood and not generally known, 
but few are aware that it is a fulminate like gun- 
powder. Any dust of combustible material, or even that 
of cast iron, when floating in, and thickly distributed in 
the air, explodes or burns up with great force. To prove 
this, let anyone hold a candle beneath a girder or beam 
in a wood shop and sweep off the fine dust from its top 
so as to fall on the light, and they will be convinced of 
its explosive nature. This is no doubt the origin of nearly 
all the fires that have been attributed to pneumatic ap- 
paratus ; as soon as caught, the fire was by means of the 
wooden pipes immediately carried throughout the whole 
building, or as far as the air currents extended. 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 49 

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FIRE. 

Besides what has been said upon the danger of wood dust 
in the last article, we will add a word about other sources 
of fire, one of the evils that wood manufacturers have 
particularly to contend with. Insurance rates for wood 
shops are, in America, from three to five times as high as 
in machine shops and other places, where, if the wood 
shops were carefully managed, the risk would be equally 
great. Everyone who has any charge in a wood shop 
should continually study the possible sources of fire. As 
accidents do not often happen when they are expected, 
so fires do not come from sources that are foreseen. Fires 
are generally mysterious, we rarely know just how they 
occur, yet there is no want of sources for them, and con- 
sidering the little care that is exercised in most shops to 
guard against fires, the only wonder is they do not all 
burn down as fast as built. There is no desire to exag- 
gerate this matter, but to state it in a positive way. 
The sources of fire about wood shops are generally bear- 
ings, smoking, matches, stoves, sparks from the furnace, 
lightning, and incendiarism, and also the want of means 
to put out incipient fires, for such want is certainly 
to be set down among the causes of destructive fires. 
To consider these several sources ; — bearings need not be 
made so as to take fire ; there should be no wood about 
them, no accumulation of shavings, or of oil and sawdust ; 
smoking, we need hardly say, should not be allowed on the 
premises ; matches are not very dangerous and can be 
carefully used; stoves are not often needed in shops 
where there is steam power, and when they are used, can 
be made comparatively safe by setting them on an elevated 
iron platform; sparks from the furnace can only be a 

E 



50 THE OPEEATOK'S HANDBOOK. 

source of danger when there is great negligence in the 
plan of its construction or in its care ; and finally, there 
is but little danger from any or all of these sources in a 
clean orderly shop. Disposing of the matter in this way, 
it may be said that it is quite easy to avoid danger from 
fire. There are none of the things enumerated but what 
are easily guarded against if taken in time and fully 
considered. To understand sources of fire is quite another 
thing, however, from merely thinking of them and being 
aware of their existence; they must be considered on 
scientific principles, like everything else connected with 
technical matters, and when understood must be attended 
to thoroughly, promptly, and persistently. It is not an 
easy thing to fire a shop when there is no accumulation 
of shavings, and a hard thing to guard against fire when 
there is such accumulation. The floors should be kept 
clean, no matter what it costs to keep them so, and 
if the business will not otherwise afford it, pay the in- 
surance policy to a porter to sweep up and watch for fire. 
The chances are that you will save more in ten years than 
by insuring. On every floor and in each room there 
should be kept in some convenient place a number of 
wooden pails filled with water, not to be used to fill 
up the grindstone troughs, nor to wash up with, but' 
marked " fire," and to be let alone unless needed for that 
purpose. It is but little trouble to keep them filled, and 
some cheap chemicals, say a few drops of carbolic acid, 
will keep the water pure in the summer during hot 
weather. Fifty pails of this kind, that will cost fifteen 
dollars, are worth more in a wood shop than a dozen 
chemical annihilators, steam pumps, or other contrivances 
which men cannot use when excited. A watchman, no 
matter how stupid he may be, understands a water pail, 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 51 

and will not fail to use it if he can get it, but would 
not under excitement be able even to turn a stop-cock, 
or sound an alarm signal if a fire should occur. The 
responsibility of these precautions against fire rests mainly 
with the managers and operators, proprietors do not always 
understand them, and if they did, cannot watch them. We 
would therefore urge a carefulness about fires, a thorough 
study of all that may originate them, and the surest 
means of arresting them, as one of the first and highest 
qualifications of a competent machine operator and wood 
workman. 

Dirty shops and want of system are the common sources 
of fires ; the opposite, clean shops and perfect system, are 
the great safeguards against them. A clean shop guards 
against exposure, and system detects and anticipates the 
various ways in which fire may be kindled. 

The pneumatic fan arrangement for clearing, alluded to 
before, will no doubt add much to the safety from fire, by 
keeping out the shavings and generally encouraging order 
and cleanliness. 



SPEED OF WOOD MACHINES. 



The speed at which machines should run to give the 
best result, is a question that operators should understand. 
It is a matter which they are expected as a rule to control, 
even when they do not direct the original arrangement 
for speeds. To prove that the proper speed of machines is 
an intricate, or at least an undetermined matter, we need 
only refer to the diversity of opinion among mechanics, 
and the want of any opinion at all with a great many 
who have not studied the matter. This is not stated in 

e 2 



52 the operator's handbook. 

a fault-finding spirit, but to show that it is no easy matter 
to tell how fast saws, cutter spindles, boring and mortising 
or other tools, should run. 

If the speed of a machine could be premised from that 
needed for the cutting edges alone, we should have a general 
rule to apply, but the limit of speed is more frequently 
taken from the conditions of the spindles and bearings, 
than from the cutting action. Cutter-heads more than 
4 inches diameter can generally be moved as fast as the 
edges need to run to give a good result, say within 5000 
revolutions a minute, or 5000 feet of movement with the 
edges ; but when the cutter-heads are smaller, the spindles 
are not diminished in the same ratio, and the speed must 
be slower. Always consider the cutter movement as 
the base in estimating speeds, instead of the number of 
revolutions made by the spindle. A cutter on a 3-inch 
head, making 4000 revolutions a minute, is only moving 
as fast as one on a 6-inch head at 2000 revolutions ; yet 
it is quite common, and a habit hard to avoid, to consider 
all spindles as wantiug a common speed of from 3000 to 
5000 revolutions a minute, without considering the move- 
ment of the edges. 

Perhaps as good a rule as can be used is to assume a 
4-inch cutter-head to make 4000 revolutions a minute, as a 
base or unit of speed ; this makes approximately 4000 feet 
a minute of cutting movement ; then add 500 feet a 
minute for each inch of diameter that is added to the 
cutter-head; this makes, with 10 inches diameter, a 
speed of 7000 feet a minute, and for 16 inches diameter 
10,000 feet a minute, which could then become a con- 
stant as a maximum speed for all larger diameters. 
This, it must be remembered, is assumed for strong 
cutter-heads of forged or malleable iron, steel, or brass, 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



53 



and not cast iron, which should never be used for high 
speeds. 

Eeversing the rule, from 4 inches diameter, with 4000 
feet of cutting movement ; deduct 750 feet of the movement 
for each inch of diameter that the heads are reduced ; 
this, at one inch, brings the cutting speed to 1750 feet 
a minute with 7000 revolutions of the spindle, about a 
practical limit. From this we have the following Table, 
which can be used for reference : — 



Speed of Wood Machines. 



Diameter of 
Cutter-head. 


Feet of Cutting 

Movement a" 

minute. 


Approximate 

Number of 

Revolutions 

a minute. 


Average Speed of 

Bearing Surfaces 

a minute 

in feet. 


Ratio of 
Movement in 
the Bearings. 


inches. 










1 


1,750 


7000 


875 


8 


2 


2,500 


5000 


937 


9 


3 


3,250 


4333 


1083 


10 


4 


4,000 


4000 


1125 


11 


5 


4,500 


3600 


1125 


11 


6 


5,000 


3333 


1145 


11 


7 


5,500 


3142 


1277 


13 


8 


6,000 


3000 


1406 


14 


9 


6,500 


2880 


1444 


14 


10 


7,000 


2880 


1445 


14 


11 


7,500 


2706 


1450 


14 


12 


8,000 


2666 


1465 


15 


13 


8,500 


2615 


1525 


15 


14 


9,000 


2576 


1541 


15 


15 


9,500 


2533 


1551 


15 


16 


10,000 


2500 


1512 


15 


17 


10,000 


2352 


1470 


15 


18 


10,000 


2222 


1417 


14 


19 


10,000 


2105 


1382 


14 


20 


10,000 


2000 


1370 


14 


24 


10,000 


1666 


1250 


13 


30 


10,000 


1333 


1083 


11 


36 


10,000 


1111 


987 


10 


40 


10, coo 


1000 


1000 


10 



Note. — These estimates, except the size of the cutter-heads, are approxi- 
mate only, to give round numbers. 



51 the operator's handbook. 

The speed of the line shafting should in all cases be as 
great as the bearings will stand with safety ; 200 to 250 
revolutions for 3-inch shafts, and 250 to 300 revolutions 
a minute for 2^-inch shafts, make a good rule, to be 
modified of course by the kind of bearings used. Coun- 
tershafts, as a rule, can run three times as fast. 36-inch 
pulleys, on the line shaft, with 12-inch tight and loose 
pulleys on the countershafts, is a good arrangement for such 
shafts as drive cutter spindles. 

Speeds should, as far as possible, be arranged to start 
from line-shaft pulleys of a uniform diameter, so that 
machines can be exchanged, or moved from one place to 
another, without taking down the line shaft each time to 
put on a new pulley. There is something strange in the 
fact that machine builders pay no attention to this matter ; 
even machine tools that have nearly a constant velocity, 
and require nearly a constant amount of power, are 
arranged to be driven with pulleys varying from 6 to 24 
inches diameter. Most builders, however, are willing to 
modify their countershafts to suit speeds and pulleys, if a 
special order is given, so that the fault rests mainly with 
those who purchase the machines. 

The cylinders of planing machines being strong and 
safe, and the rate of feed needed as great as possible, they 
can be run at a speed one-fourth greater than that given 
in the Table. 

Boring machines to operate screw-bits should run from 
1000 to 2000 revolutions a minute, according to the kind 
of wood or the size of the bits used. 

For all reciprocating machines there is a general rule 
that applies, which is to run them as fast as they will 
stand; or, in other words, their work always requires 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 55 

more speed than it is possible to give them. This is 
certainly not a very comprehensive rule, but another 
rule, infinitely better, is to " use them only when they 
cannot be avoided," no matter to what purpose they are 
directed. For ordinary reciprocating machines the follow- 
ing list of speeds is given, for which we trust the reader 
will not require any special data, but accept it on faith 
and as a matter of experience : — 

Revolutions a minute. 

Resawing machines with one saw . . . . 250 to 300 

Scroll saw with sash 300 „ 400 

Jig saws with spring tension 500 „ 800 

„ unstrained saws 800 ,,1500 

Mortising machines with movable table .. 300 „ 450 

„ „ chisel-feed .. .. 250 „ 350 

„ heavy, for car work . . 200 „ 300 

Circular saws can be run at least a fourth faster than 
other cutting tools, which can, for ordinary cases, be added 
to the estimates in the Table for rotary motion. The 
manner in which a circular saw is hammered has much to 
do with the speed at which it can be run, and often when 
a saw becomes limber and " runs," it is the fault of the 
hammering instead of the speed. When slack on the 
periphery it will not stand speed, and becomes weaker and 
bends more readily when in motion than when it is still ; 
on the contrary, if it is properly hammered a little tight, 
as it is termed, on the periphery, it becomes more rigid 
when in motion up to a certain limit. The theory of this 
is that the steel is elastic, and is stretched by the 
centrifugal strain in proportion to the speed, which is 
greatest at the teeth and diminishes to the centre. 

If saws indicate a tendency to spring and a want of 
rigidity, have them re-hammered by an experienced smith, 



56 the operator's handbook. 

before changing the speed to remedy it. Cutting wood 
is a little like cutting iron ; hard wood cannot be cut 
at so high a speed as soft wood. Anyone who has had 
experience in working boxwood, cocoa, rosewood, or lig- 
num vitae, will have noticed that a high speed soon de- 
stroys the edges by overheating, especially with boring 
tools, or turning tools that act continuously. The use of 
these hard varieties of wood is, however, so exceptional 
in America, that the matter need not be discussed here, 
further than to say that a moulding or a planing machine 
that is to run mainly upon walnut, ash, oak, or any of 
the native hard woods, will give a better result if speeded 
one-fourth slower than for pine or other soft woods. 



POWER NEEDED TO DRIVE MACHINES. 

The article on speeds for machines was commenced 
by informing the reader that no positive rules could be 
given. The present one, for stronger reasons, should 
perhaps be commenced in the same way. The power is 
something, however, which some one must understand, 
and which all must be more or less conversant with. It 
is one of the first considerations in making plans for a 
mill, or for wood manufacture of any kind. It may 
seem arbitrary, in dealing with a new subject like the 
operation of wood machines, to make a list of and set 
down the power needed to drive each machine. It is, 
however, all that can be done in the absence of those 
careful experiments that have fixed the measure of power 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 57 

for other duties almost as diversified and irregular. In 
our American shops from two to four times as much 
wood is planed off as in Europe. The lumber is cut to 
size whilst green, and then seasoned, so that it takes about 
an eighth of an inch to dress boards, to say nothing of 
irregular sawing. Foreign planing machines are driven 
with belts one-fourth the width of the cutters, while 
American machines have, or ought to have, twice as 
much width of belt ; and, of course, consume power in 
proportion. As a general rule, for ordinary planing, 
with flat cutters the belts should be one-half the width 
of the cutters, running on pulleys whose diameter equals 
the cutter-heads, or is in the same proportion ; that is, if 
the pulleys are half the diameter of the cutter-head, the 
belt should be as wide as the cutter, and so on. This is for 
top cutters that bring the stuff parallel ; for bottom cutters, 
and for all other flat cutters that work on gauged stuff, 
one-third less will do. 

Assuming a rule for belts would seem to be the same thing 
as establishing an estimate for the power required to run 
machines, and it would be in most cases, but not for wood 
machines. The high speed diminishes pulley contact, and 
the dust and shavings keep the belts dry, diminishing 
their tractile force ; besides, they must be loose, to prevent 
the bearings from heating, so that if we were to reckon up 
the amount of power to drive a 24-inch double surfacing 
planer, according to the accepted standard for measuring 
the power of belts, it would in most mills leave nothing 
for the rest of the machines. Experience has, however, 
demonstrated certain widths as sufficient, and appended is 
a list of machines with an estimate in horse power as a 
unit. To determine the size of an engine to drive wood 



58 the operator's handbook. 

machine?, 3 in. of piston area to each horse power will be 
found sufficient, if other conditions are correct. 

Power needed to Drive Machines. 

30-inch surfacing planer, one tide 8 

30 „ „ two sides 10 

24 „ „ one side 6 

24 „ „ two sides 8 

14 „ planing and matching machine 6 

14 „ „ „ with bottom cylinder 7 

8 „ moulding machine, four sides 5 

6 „ „ „ 3 

4 „ sash moulding machine, three sides 2 

Circular saws for each inch of diameter above the table .. 1 

Murtising machine for light work to | inch It 

„ „ heavy work to 2 inches 3 

Rotary mortising machine for chair work 1 

i, „ framing 3 

Tenoning machine for joiner and cabinet work 2 

„ „ framing 4 

Jig saw for fret work 1 

Band saw to 1-inch blades 3 

Shaping machine, two spindles 2 

Wood-turning lathe 1 

Blower for clearing shavings, &c 1 to 2 

Boring machines 1 to 2 

For grindstones, emery wheels, buffing wheels, hoisting 
machines, and other details, add one horse power for each 
ten men employed ; the resistance of shafting, when of 
unusual length, must also be taken into account. 

In all estimates of the power needed to operate machines, 
it must be remembered that the power used is generally 
as the amount of material that is passed through the 
machines, so that the aggregate must be based upon the 
length of time, or the constancy with which the machines 
are run. There must, of course, be enough provided to 
drive all the machines at one time, and to their fullest 
capacity, but in making estimates for rented power where 
it is employed at intervals, or when but a part of the 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 59 

machines run at one time, the amount used is quite 
different from what the Table would indicate. 

The power needed and the power consumed in wood 
shops are two quite different things. The old saying 
that time is money, is equally and more obviously true 
if rendered, power is money. It is an element of cost, 
just like oil, tools, or lumber. Power is, however, a less 
tangible thing, and because it is not seen and handled, 
is too often allowed to waste and escape under the 
notice of those who are rigidly careful in other matters. 
How common it is in going into a shop to hear the 
belts screeching on the pulleys, belts running half on 
the tight pulley when it is standing, or sometimes a 
machine blocked to keep it from starting, with the 
belts dragging on the pulleys. All this means waste of 
coal and waste of money, not by loss of power alone, 
but by the destruction of belts. If a belt is allowed to 
rub on a tight pulley, or any other fixed object, it is at 
once heated and stretched, and, as it stretches on one side, 
the tendency is to draw it more on to this object; if 
on the edges of tight pulleys, which is most common, 
its driving power is impaired to the extent that it is 
rubbed or stretched on its edges ; as no contact takes 
place when it is shifted. Whenever a heated bearing is 
suspected, the rule is to hunt it up at once and correct 
it ; the same thing should be done with the screeching of 
belts ; whenever heard, look it out, and change the 
shafting until it runs true. A belt always runs to the 
nearest end of a shaft, as towards the line a, Fig. 24, 
which is just the opposite way from what is generally 
supposed. The old theory that a belt always runs to the 
highest part may be true, and is undoubtedly true with 
reference to the convexity of the face of pulleys, but does 



60 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



not apply to pulleys that are set diagonally to the line 
of the belt. In Fig. 24 it is easy to see that the pulley 1, 



Fig. 24. 
...Co-- 




I 



standing in the position shown, will wind the belt spirally, 
like the thread of a screw, whose pitch is equal to the 
space seen at 2, between the dotted line and the edge of 
the pulley, or, in oilier w r ords, the amount that the pulley 
is out of truth. 

The other edge, which may be called the high one, has 
its influence on the belt, but it is trifling when compared 
to the spiral winding action whicli carries the belt to one 
side just as positively as a shifter would. 



STOPPING AND STAETING MACHINES. 

The resistance offered by a machine in starting, is as 
the inertia of the parts before they are in motion, or as 
their momentum after they are in motion, and as mo- 
mentum is as the weight multiplied into the velocity, 
wood machines, by reason of their great speed, are heavy 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



61 



to start ; especially planing and moulding machines that 
have heavy cutter-heads. Shifting pulleys, or tight and 
loose pulleys as they are generally called, are used almost 
exclusively in our wood shops, and are no doubt the best 
means there are of stopping and starting, except the idle 
tension pulley, which can be used only in particular cases. 
We should perhaps also except the plan of using an 
independent shaft, shown Fig. 25, in which 1 is the 

Fig. 25. 




countershaft, and 2 an idle shaft carrying the stopping- 
pulley. This, although a good device, is difficult to erect 
and keep in line, besides being too expensive to come 
into general use. Its merits, however, aside from these 
objections, will at once be conceded. 

In a large mill in Cincinnati, Ohio, the shifting pulleys 
are all arranged on this plan, and it is claimed that the 
extra expense of first cost is more than made up by avoid- 
ing the detention incident to having the pulleys run loose 
on the shaft. 

It is to be hoped that some modification of the friction 
clutch will be made that has the needed qualities of 
endurance and power, to take the place of shifting pulleys, 
fur high speeds ; it however lacks now much of the sim- 
plicity and capacity for wear, that would fit it for the 
purpose about wood-working establishments. 

Shifting pulleys do very well at low speeds when the 



62 the operator's handbook. 

shafts are not larger than 2 inches in diameter, and the 
motion is not more than 500 revolutions a minute, but 
at the high speeds which are necessary with wood 
machines, they are a great source of trouble and annoy*- 
ance, and should be made with great care, and carefully 
looked after for a time when first started. 

In making plans for, or in giving orders for wood 
machines, the loose pulleys should have special attention. 
The holes should be bored and reamed to standard sizes, 
so that a pulley may be exchanged from one shaft to 
another, or replaced at any time without the trouble of 
making a special fit. 

Before erecting a countershaft or starting a machine 
that has loose pulleys, always see to the fit, the character 
of the hole, and that they are clean and well oiled at the 
start. 

The fit should be loose, not too loose, but so as to 
be felt in shaking the pulley ; the hole will show on its 
sides, from the rubbing of the mandril used in turning, 
whether it is true or not. A little time spent in looking 
after these things before starting, often saves detention 
and accident afterwards, and as the operator has the care, 
and generally the responsibility of loose pulleys sticking, 
or cutting, it is important that he should understand the 
cause of the difficulty and how to correct it. It is true the 
machinist who builds wood machines should assume the 
responsibility and always fit the work properly, but if 
he does not, it is the operator's business to shift the 
responsibility to whom it belongs. 

Loose pulleys will give trouble now and then, no 
matter how well they are fitted, and in erecting new 
works, or in purchasing new machines, they should be 
carefully looked after. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



63 



At the risk of recommending a plan that seems to be 
theoretically incorrect, it is suggested that for high-speed 
loose pulleys, there should be an oil groove cut in the 
hub, as shown in Fig. 26 — a deep narrow groove parallel 
to the shaft, and tapering from the ends to the middle, as 

Fig. 26. 




Fig. 2] 




Fig. 28. 



shown in the sections, Figs. 26, 27. Such grooves would 
be supposed to cause an unequal wear in the hole because 
of the surface cut away at one side, but it will not be 
found so in practice. 

A batter, although more expensive plan, is to have 
grooves cut through the hub, as in Fig. 28 ; these can be 
filled with brass antifriction metal, or 
what is equally good, pear wood. The 
grooves break what is termed the con- 
tinuity of the bearing, a principle gene- 
rally recognized as a safeguard against 
abrasion or cutting. 

The proportion of the hubs has much 
to do with the performance of loose 
pulleys. A too common custom is to make the hubs on 
the light and loose pulleys, of equal length, losing a 
large amount of bearing surface that might with ad van- 




64 



THE OPERATOR S HANBDOOK. 



Fig. 29. 




tage be added to the loose pulley, and is not needed on 
the fast. Fig. 29 is the proper plan of arranging the 
hubs of shifting pulleys, especially for wood machinery, 

where high speed and 
wood dust are to be con- 
tended with. The hubs of 
loose pulleys to 3 inches 
face should project J in. 
on each side of the rim, 
and for faces of greater 
width, 1 inch on each 
side. 

Loose pulleys running 
on studs or fixed shafts 
cannot be oiled by means 
of oil holes drilled in the hub ; when a shaft is in motion 
and the pulley is stopped the oil is drawn in rapidly, but 
when both are still the case is quite different, and the oil- 
ways should be made through the shaft or stud instead of 
through the hub. This applies to the gearing about 
planing machines, and in all cases where gear wheels or 
pulleys run loose on a fixed axis. In ordering new 
machines, or in case of trouble with those in use, have the 
oil- ways changed to this plan, which is the only way to 
ensure thorough lubrication and prevent trouble. 

While discussing mechanism for stopping, starting, and 
shifting belts, we will add some remarks about shifters. 

A man may be tastefully dressed throughout in a suit of 
the best, but bis whole appearance is spoiled by a bad hat. 
A machine may be properly constructed, in good propor- 
tion, and set up in the best manner, and still present a bad 
appearance from the effect of an awkward belt shifter. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



65 



The rods and fingers or studs are now generally furnished 
with hangers for the smaller shafts ; but there are always 
more or less of them to be made of wood ; the custom 
seems to be to pick up any pieces found lying about 
the floor to make them from, without reference to size 
or proportion. This is especially true of wood shops, 
where there is every facility for making them in a proper 
manner. 

Of course no special arrangement or dimensions need 
be followed in making shifter frames, yet there are propor- 
tions which should be observed within reason. 

Fig. 30 shows a wooden shifter frame, constructed of hard 
wood ; the pendants 2, 2 should be from 2J to 2} inches 

Fig. 30. 



d: 



t=V 



c ^ 



square ; the shifter rail 3, £ by 2\ inches ; the friction 
rail 4, | by 2 inches ; and the lever f in. thick by 2-J inches 
wide at the extreme, tapering to \\ in. wide at the lower 
end, and to 1^ in. wide at the top end. Tho rail 4 is to 
connect and stiffen the pendants 2, 2, and to hold the 
shifter when it is set over, by the friction against the 



66 the operator's handbook. 

lever ; this can be regulated by a piece of leather between 
them, or by Laving the rail sprung so as to bear against 
the lever. 

The eye that the belt runs through at 5 can be made 
of round iron J- in. or f in. diameter, flattened at the 
ends, and drilled to receive two wood screws in each 
side. 

In building a new place, or wdien machines are being 
added, a good plan is to prepare a number of pieces for 
shifter rails and pendants, which can be shaped and 
mortised ready for use when wanted, and cost much less 
than if improvised each time they are needed. 

Idle or tension pulleys, or more properly brake pulleys, 
are perhaps the best means of stopping and starting 
machines or shafts in any case when the belts are in a 
position that allows their use. In wood shops any belt 
that runs at an angle higher than 45 degrees can, as a 
rule, be operated by a brake pulley ; which is not only a 
very effectual means of stopping and starting, but has 
the important advantage of regulating the tension of the 
belt to suit the character of the work, and also increases 
its lap and tractile power. 

Wood shops are especially instanced because a belt at 
any other than a very high angle cannot be operated 
in this way unless the surfaces are sufficiently dry and 
smooth to allow them to slip on the still pulley. As the 
belts of a wood shop are usually in this condition because 
of the dust, brake pulleys can be used with advantage in 
a great many cases, particularly on the larger belts, and 
when the driving pulley is below. This latter case allows 
the belt to stop with the top pulley ; but if the angle is as 
high as 60 degrees, Figs. 31 and 32, the driving pulley 
can be above, and the belt will run loosely around the 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



67 



bottom pulley without injury if it is not too heavy and 
there are flanges or guides to keep it on when running 
loose. In Fig. 31, 1 is the driving pulley, 2 the brake 
pulley, and 3 the driven pulley. The brake pulley must 
always be placed on the slack side of the belt, where the 
bottom pulley is the driver, or as in Fig. 32, where the top 
pulley is the driving one. 



Fig. 31. 



Fig. 32. 




Besides the advantages of regulating the tension and 
increasing contact, brake pulleys can be used to guide 
the belt by changing their axes, a very important matter 
in the case of large driving belts ; they also require but 
one-half the room and width needed for shifting pulleys. 

Brake pulleys for small belts should be made as in 
Fig. 33, the centre laid up out of wood, with a flange 
of cast iron at each end, fitted on the spindle, and fastened 
to the wood by means of wood screws. The shaft can be 
square when it is fitted through the wood, which prevents 



68 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 



it from turning in the pulley, and obviates the necessity 
of keys in the end flanges ; as there is no end thrust on 

Fig. 33. 




the shaft it can have point bearings. The bearing is 
arranged for antifriction metal, with a tallow cup on the 
top, which is the only lubrication needed. If the bearings 
have to be oiled in the usual manner, the belt is sure 
to become greased by the waste oil thrown from the 
flanges. 

By letting these bearings into the brake frame, Fig. 33, 
and having the bolt holes slotted, they are easily moved 
for adjustment; and if keys are placed on each side of« 
them, they can be set to change the axis of the pulley so 
as to guide the belt. 

Positive clutches are not fit for wood machines, there 
are no motions that need be so positive as to require them ; 
besides, if made as they should be, they are much more 
expensive than either shifting belts or brake pulleys. 

A great trouble with wood machines is the abrupt 
manner in which they are started ; a belt to drive a 
planing machine 8 inches wide, moving at 2000 feet a 
minute, is usually shifted at once to the fast pulley, 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 69 

causing a shock to the pulleys and shafting, which if 
it were not for the slipping of the belt would soon destroy 
the whole arrangement. 

This can be guarded against by shifting the belts 
gradually, but cannot be left to the judgment of those 
who work on the machines unless they are specially 
instructed, and even then will generally be forgotten or 
disregarded. Many machine builders in England arrange 
shifters to work with screws, so that they cannot be used 
abruptly, a plan that pays well for the trouble, when 
there are shifting pulleys which run at a high speed and 
when the shifter can be attached directly to the machine. 



ACCIDENTS FROM WOOD MACHINES. 

A machine operator who has not carefully studied the 
many sources of danger and accident to which he is con- 
tinually exposed, has neglected a study, the neglect of 
which may cost him a limb or his life at any time. There 
is always more or less danger from sources that cannot 
be foreseen, and therefore cannot be provided against, 
without running risks from dangers that are under- 
stood. 

Accidents in wood shops occur generally from care- 
lessness, and a failure to correct some irregularity or 
risk that was well known, such as cuts by saws or other 
tools in motion — winding belts, bolts or cutters flying 
off, or winding the clothing — none of which seem to offer 
much risk, and yet are dangerous enough, if estimated 
from the number of accidents from these causes. It is 
rare to find a man who has been engaged for any length 
of time in operating wood-cutting machines who has not 



70 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

lost fingers, or does not bear scars that attest the danger 
of his calling. 

There is perhaps less real risk with wood-cutting 
machinery than many other kinds, if people were equally 
careful in working with it. One is not apt to go near a 
train of wheels, or a large belt that is in motion, with- 
out a feeling of dread ; they convey a sense of danger ; 
but a circular saw looks harmless when running, almost 
as though it could be handled without injury, and unless 
a high-speed machine makes a great noise, it does not seem 
to convey any sense of peril. 

With one exception, circular saws are perhaps the most 
dangerous among wood tools. The hands in many varieties 
of work must of necessity be exposed to injury, and nothing 
but continual attention and care will prevent accidents. 
The mind must be kept on the work, and never for a single 
instant wander away to other matters. 

The writer, during a long experience with a large 
number of sawyers under his charge, noticed that a man 
who was absent-minded was sure to be cut, and that by 
carefully observing the disposition and peculiarities of the 
workmen, there could be men selected for the saws who 
ran but little risk. Whenever a man was detected day 
dreaming, or engrossed in thought, he was removed from 
the saws and given a job with less risk ; the result was, 
that accidents became rare, although the work was of a 
dangerous character, consisting mainly of what is termed 
blocking and cropping, where some twelve saws were at 
work. 

Accidents in sawing are generally from cuts where the 
hands are jerked into the saw, and from pieces coming 
over the saw from behind. In the first case the accident 
generally occurs from the piece suddenly parting in the 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 71 

line of the kerf, either through a split or a hidden cut on 
the under side that allows the piece to spring forward so 
quickly that the hands cannot be checked, or by the 
piece unexpectedly rolling over towards the saw when 
the cut is being made on one side. These are cases when 
a careful sawyer may be cut; but there are a hundred 
other ways in which accidents may occur, even by people 
deliberately placing their hands upon a saw without 
knowing it to be in motion, a circumstance which has 
often happened. 

In block sawing, cutting short stuff, the sawyer should 
use a stick for pushing the pieces, placing his left hand to 
keep them against the fence, and keeping the stick in his 
right to push them through. A little practice soon makes 
this a convenient plan, and one that would be generally 
followed if it were not that in most American saw benches 
we have not only to push the stuff through but at the same 
time hold it down to keep it from rising behind the saw, 
a matter to be noticed farther on. If the stuff has no 
tendency to rise behind, there is no excuse for placing 
the hands near enough to/ the saw to be in danger, no 
matter what the character of the work. 

In sawing from the side of a piece that is liable to roll 
over, no other precaution can be taken except close atten- 
tion and an estimate of the danger beforehand. The best 
rule is to be ready to let go if anything happens, and it 
may be remarked that in this as in all other cases where 
accidents may or do happen, people are seldom hurt from 
a cause that has been previously considered and is watched 
for. Pieces coming over the saw is a danger that is more 
apparent, gives some warning, and is generally dreaded 
and watched for by the sawyer, especially if he has seen 
or experienced such accidents. Many who have worked 



72 the operator's handbook. 

about saws for years do not know the force with which a 
piece will be thrown from a sharp saw that has hooked 
teeth. 

If a piece of stuff — say, 10 feet long — is taken behind a 
ripping saw, and the end dropped on the top, so that its 
whole length will pass over the top, it will attain a velocity 
equal to that of the periphery of the saw, a fact that is 
easily proved by examining the marks of the teeth toward 
the last end, the pitch of which will equal that of the teeth 
on the saw. An accident of this kind will sometimes 
happen from a green or wet piece closing on the saw be- 
hind ; but it is quite rare, and with this exception there is 
no need of such a thing ever happening. In nineteen cases 
out of twenty the fault is in the gauge or fence, which 
for some unaccountable reason seems in America to be 
arranged with a special view to throwing the stuff over the 
saw; and considering the ingenuity and the intelligence 
which mark shop manipulation in other matters, there is 
no parallel for it. 

Fig. 34 shows the usual plan of arranging saw gauges in 
England and most other countries. 

Fig. 34. 




W 




We often see saw benches from 8 to 10 feet long with a 
mandril in the centre, w r here no one can reach the saw 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 73 

from the end, and the work is done with the greatest incon- 
venience; the gauges not only extend past the saw, but 
are often longer behind than they are in front, an arrange- 
ment that is never heard or thought of in any other 
country. 

It is evident that if a gauge extends behind the saw it 
cannot be set parallel to the plate, but must, in order to 
free the stuff, stand at an angle ; and as the constant ten- 
dency is to keep it parallel, the result is that the pieces are 
lifted behind and thrown over. This matter will be further 
considered under its proper head, and is alluded to here 
only in connection with the danger it occasions. 

Many fatal accidents occur from flying pieces, which, 
from saws of average diameter, usually strike the sawyer 
in the breast or about the waist, often causing instant 
death — sometimes scarcely leaving a scar. Three fatal 
accidents of this kind happened within as many years with 
men personally known to the writer, which is mentioned 
to explain the emphatic disapproval of long saw gauges. 
A thick plank hinged so as to hang directly above the 
saw, heavy enough to stop any piece coming over, makes 
a safeguard against such accidents, but it hides the rear of 
the saw from view, and is not needed if other precautions 
are attended to. 

Circular saws were mentioned as second among the dan- 
gerous machines of a wood shop. The irregular moulding 
or shaping machine should be placed first. 

Safety shields of various kinds have been devised, most 
of which protect the hands, but are in the way, and can 
generally be found hanging on the wall somewhere in the 
vicinity of the machines. No safety device that impedes 
or increases the labour will ever be used in this or any 
other case, and the safest plan is to carefully consider how 



74 the operator's handbook. 

accidents may happen and what precautions will hinder 
them without interfering with the work. 

In shaping, the danger is from having the piece snatched 
by the cutters, either by a splinter raising or when the 
angle of the cutters is such as to cause them to catch, both 
of which can be in a measure guarded against by having 
the angle of the edges very obtuse, which suits the nature 
of the work besides promoting safety. 

A great share of the work performed on shaping 
machines, especially such as is extensively duplicated, can 
be moulded on formers fitted with clamps to hold the 
piece as in Fig. 35. This arrangement fully protects the 
hands, besides making better and faster work. 

Fig. 35. 



The holder shown at Fig. 35 is adapted to milling or 
shaping chair-stuff, hames, billet frames, or other work, 
when there are a number of pieces of the same pattern to 
be moulded ; 5 is the pattern and main frame on which the 
clamping jaws are mounted, 6 is the piece to be moulded. 
The jaws 1, 1 are operated by the tension rod 3 and the 
handle 2, which locks the jaws when thrown down in the 
position shown by the dotted lines, making a toggle-joint, 
which is the only safe fastening when there is jar and 
concussion. The amount of force used in clamping is 
regulated by the swivel screw at 4, which can also to a 
limited degree be used to adjust the jaws for pieces of 
varying thickness. 



THE OPERATOR^ HANDBOOK. 75 

This form of clamp is the only one that is safe to use 
on a shaping machine. Screws, spurs, or wedges — in fact, 
anything except the toggle-joint — may give way at any 
time, and lead to accident. The tension rod on the top 
equalizes the strain on the bar 5, which would be bent by 
any clamping device that acted independently at each end. 
There is also the advantage of clamping both ends instantly 
at the same time and with equal force. 

The safety of operating shaping machines depends much 
upon the form of the cutters ; if they have an obtuse 
angle and stand in a radial position, there is but little ten- 
dency to snatch the piece, and the cutting will be effected 
as easily and much smoother than when standing in an 
acute position ; the angle of cutters will, however, be 
noticed under another head. 

Accidents often occur from winding belts, and are always 
dangerous, either from the chances of being drawn in by 
the belt or from pulling down the shafting. Three cases 
out of every four are caused by the belts becoming fast 
between pulleys set too near together, an easy thing to 
guard against, and yet a most common fault. 

Pulleys on a line shaft, that are separated only an inch 
or two, are danger traps, that may at any time cost a life 
or lead to destructive accidents. There should always be 
a space between, at least one-third more than the width of 
the belts, and as much wider as practicable. Belts running 
too near together are also a source of danger; if one belt 
breaks it is apt to be overrun by the other, and both of 
them wound about the shaft; and as the supports for 
shafting are often not strong enough to part the belts, 
the whole is likely to be thrown down if the heavier belts 
are wound. 

There is always danger in throwing on belts when the 



76 the operator's handbook. 

pulleys are in motion. It would be of little use arguing 
against the practice when it will have no influence to 
prevent it ; what is better will be to give such instruction 
as is possible to lessen danger. 

Do not attempt to throw on large belts until practised 
with small belts, at low speeds, and experiment until 
these can be thrown on without failure and without danger. 
There is nothing about a shop that is learned so blindly as 
this; no one can, as a rule, tell how to put on a belt, 
or even offer a suggestion, except it be to keep your 
hands out, or to get on the right side of the pulley. It is 
learned by accident, as we may say; and yet there is 
one little thing which, if understood, will save nearly all 
the experiment, and at the same time the danger, for the 
danger does not come from the throwing on of a belt so 
much as the failure in doing so. Move the hand as fast as 
the pulley goes ; that is the whole art. Watch persons 
trying to throw on a belt, and it will be seen that the only 
difference between the skilled and the unskilled rests in 
this thing, of moving the hand with the pulley. The one 
will throw it on instantly, apparently without effort, and 
without a thought of failure ; the other will try several 
times, and then, from desperation, attempt to force it 
on, and burn the hand from friction, or do something 
worse in the way of accident. Now the difference, if noted, 
will be found to consist in the fact, that in the successful 
attempts the hand was moved as fast as the pulley, and 
in the others it was not. There are of course other con- 
ditions to be observed, but this is the essential one. 

If the belt is long and horizontal, the centre, or bight, 
as the sailors call it, should be held up, and the slack 
should be mainly on the taking-on side ; this provides in 
a measure for overcoming the inertia of the belt, and the 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 77 

machinery to be started, the chief difficulty where there 
is much speed. 

Large belts, unless very long, should never be thrown on 
while the pulleys are in motion, but drawn together with 
clamps and joined. If they have to be thrown on, stop the 
pulleys, lash the belt to the face of the pulley, and turn 
by hand or slowly with the power until the pulley has made 
a half turn, and the belt is on, when the lashing can be 
removed. 

Accidents from winding the clothing are of great fre- 
quency in wood shops, but unless from the line shafting, are 
less serious than in other places. The high speed is a safe- 
guard in such accidents, as the body cannot be drawn in 
and revolved about a spindle or shaft that is running at a 
high speed ; the greater danger is from slow shafts, making 
from one to three hundred revolutions a minute. Set 
screws are generally at the bottom of the matter, and 
boring spindles the most common source of accidents. 

It was remarked before that there is no use in recom- 
mending a thing when you know the advice will not be 
followed. If it was not for this, we should feel like enter- 
ing a general protest against all exposed set screws. Many 
of our best machinists avoid them wherever they can, and 
in some shops they are not allowed on the machines about 
which the men work, and where there is danger ; but this 
is exceptional, and the rule in wood machinery of the 
present time is to find them not only in chucks to hold 
bits, but even in collars on the ends of shafts to keep 
the loose pulleys on. This last is nothing but a relic of old 
times, an unmechanicai and most dangerous plan of keep- 
ing loose work on a shaft, at a place where belts are to be 
thrown on and off or oiling done. A nut on the end of the 
shaft is neater, more mechanical, and certainly safer. 



78 the operator's handbook. 

Machine operators have usually under their charge 
unskilled hands, often boys, who have had no previous 
experience, and there is great responsibility resting on 
them in this matter of accidents; the novice is at their 
mercy, uninstructed and uncautioned, he is liable to 
meet with accidents that will cost him a finger, a limb, 
or his life. The dangers of machinery are to him just 
like secret traps set for his destruction, and the old or 
master operator is to be considered his guardian to take 
him safely through by warning him of the danger. We 
feel it quite unnecessary to appeal to the sympathy of 
the operators in this matter. Such accidents as we have 
alluded to rarely happen from any cause but oversight 
and want of caution ; and wood workmen, as a class, have 
but little of that foolish jealousy that in some other trades 
leaves the young apprentice to learn of danger as he best 
can. 

Operators and managers in any place where the work 
is under their charge, should go along the line shafting 
and look for projecting screws, keys, or bolt-heads, see that 
there are no belt traps between pulleys, and that there is 
free access to oil bearings without going into dangerous 
places. If such things are found, have them corrected ; 
if proprietors will not do it, quit them, and seek employ- 
ment with those of more humanity, system, and good 
sense ; the change will be an advantage in the end. If 
exposed set screws are found on machines, have them 
countersunk, or if on the ends of spindles or shafts, have 
them replaced with nuts. Examine saw gauges and all 
machines for sources of danger, caution apprentices, and 
explain clearly the nature of possible accidents, and but 
little danger need be apprehended. Some foremen are 
continually having accidents with their machinery, and 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 79 

others rarely ever have; the difference is mainly from 
things that have been pointed out, and mill owners in 
placing their machinery in charge of anyone should 
inquire what accidents he has had, just as much as how 
much experience he has had in his business. 

Accidents from flying cutters, or bolts thrown from 
cutter-heads in motion, are of rare occurrence. To one 
who knows nothing of the thing practically, the chances 
would seem equal, for cutters to fly off or to stay on, when 
their weight, work, and speed are taken into account. 
They do not come off very often, however, and when they 
do there are rarely any accidents from them. This is for 
two reasons; there is an instinct of danger from cutters 
that always keeps the operator on his guard ; and any- 
thing that flies from a revolving cutter-head always goes 
precisely in {he plane of rotation, which it is easy to avoid, 
and if the fact is realized, the operator keeps out of this 
plane when in the vicinity of high-speed spindles. As 
this statement comprehends nearly all that can be said as 
a caution, we will next notice the fastening of the cutters, 
where the danger generally has its origin. 

Cutters are generally held by screws that pass through 
and clamp them to the head or block. These screws have 
two purposes to serve ; to clamp the cutter on the head 
so firmly that the friction will keep it from sliding end- 
wise ; and to hold it against the centrifugal strain and 
the strain of cutting, which is tranverse to the face 
of the cutter, and from the centre of the head. Now 
making due allowance for the tenacity of good bolts, and 
the strength they are supposed to have in such cases, there 
is a point of straining where the screw is ready to break, 
without adding the further strain of the centrifugal and the 
cutting forces, and the great danger is rather in over- 



80 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

straining than in unclerstraining them. The inexperienced 
generally, with a feeling of greater security in having the 
cutters tight, will screw them down as firmly as they can, 
and as the amount of this strain is usually governed by the 
length of the wrench, it is easy to see the importance of 
watching the matter especially with moulding machines, 
where the cutters are too often held by bolts, not only 
too small, but of low grade iron. 

Cutter-screws and bolts should be made of the very best 
refined iron, not from Swedish, Norwegian, or any of the 
fine imported iron which is too soft, but from the best 
rivet rods. It is not amiss to keep a few rods of this 
iron of J in., § in., and J in. diameter, which can be 
sent out to have cutter-bolts made from ; it will ensure 
their quality and add but a trifle to their cost. Steel is 
not safe for such bolts, and should never be used ; if it is 
perfectly annealed and soft, it is of course stronger than 
iron, but there can never be any assurance of this, besides 
it will not stand blows and rough usage so well as iron. 



EEPAIES OF MACHINERY. 



The repairing about a wood-manufacturing establishment, 
including the renewal of cutters, tools, belts, or saws, that 
are regularly worn out, and the breakages from accident, 
if footed up at the end of each year, would in most cases 
equal, and in not a few exceed, the clear earnings. To 
lose a contract for a thousand dollars' worth of work on 
which there is a probable profit of ten per cent., is to lose 
the chances of one hundred dollars of earnings, but to lose 
by accident one hundred dollars for repairs is that much 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 81 

money taken from the actual earnings already made. 
Its loss is a matter of certainty, and if we could only 
realize on all occasions, as we should, that one dollar of 
this kind of expense represents ten dollars' worth of work 
done in the shop, the repair bills would be materially 
reduced. 

It was remarked at the beginning that an operator of 
wood machinery should be a machinist. Good operators 
are generally able to do ordinary repairs, and prefer doing 
them without sending them out to be bungled in a second- 
class machine shop. 

There is no intention here of suggesting radical 
changes in existing practice and customs that are not 
wise and expedient, but it is confidently recommended 
that any woodwork shop employing fifty or more men 
should have an engine lathe and a portable forge for 
doing their own repairs. The engineer as a rule has 
time to work these tools, and will find many things to 
do on them in the course of a year, that would otherwise 
either remain undone or have to be sent out, and appear 
in a long bill for repairs. 

An engine lathe suitable for general purposes in a wood 
shop of 16" to 20" swing, to turn 6 to 8 feet in length, 
can with the necessary equipment of tools be procured for 
from 450 dollars to 600 dollars. 

The tools and appliances wanted will be as follows ; — 

Centre and following rests, furnished with lathe. 

One 12" to 16" independent jaw chuck. 

One set of chuck drills, \" to 1" by eighths, to 2" by fourths. 

One set of twist drills, \" to f " by ^ths, f" to \\" by eighths. 

A set of V thread taps from f " by -^ths to £", and by eighths from 

f" to li", with wrenches to turn them. 
Two chucks for drills fitted to the lathe. 
Six each, 4", 6", and 8", clamp bolts, -*" diameter. 
Lathe dogs from a to 2" by ^ths, from 2" to 4" by | inch. 

G 



82 the operator's handbook. 

Lathe tools as follows ; — 

Four diamond tools, right and left. 

Two side tools, right and left. 

Four square tools, \", ■^ E ", ±", and |" wide. 

Two V tools for threads, one hent and one straight. 

One inside thread tool 3" long. 

Three boring tools, 3", 5", and 7" long. 

One round nose tool, 

making in all 17 pieces. These tools should be ordered with 
and come with the lathe, so that they will fit the tool post ; 
and besides have the advantage of being properly made and 
tempered by the lathe manufacturer, who is presumed to 
understand just how they ought to be after their purpose 
has been explained. 

A portable forge from 30 to 36 inches diameter, with a 
sufficient outfit of tongs, and a cast-iron anvil, will cost 
from 60 to 80 dollars. If the whole machine shop in- 
vestment is valued, at 750 dollars including the shafting, 
the interest of this would at ten per cent, a year be 75 
dollars, as an investment, a sum that will generally be 
saved in making countershafts, pulleys, or other fittings, 
to say nothing of repairing. The lathe and tools, if taken 
care of, will be worth nearly what they cost at any time. 
We will next consider what may be gained by this auxiliary 
machine shop in repairs, and doing such fitting as comes 
within its capacity. 

First — There is the savins: in cost, notwithstanding the 
argument of machinists to the contrary. The labour, 
which is the expensive element in machine fitting, is often 
performed by the engineer, or some one else, in conjunc- 
tion with other duties. 

Second — The work is done when it is needed, or, what 
is better, and in most cases practicable, before it is needed ; 
one job done at the right time is as good as two jobs done 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 83 

at the wrong time ; this may be among " Franklin's 
maxims ; " if not, it ought to be. 

Third — The work is done in the manner required, and 
this is the main point of all. In regular machine fitting 
there are drawings to work from, and there is no trouble in 
conveying to the workmen a knowledge of what is wanted ; 
besides, the work is of a regular nature, and suggests its 
requirements ; but the repairs of a wood-working establish- 
ment are very different. We have only to ask a machinist 
who has such repairs to do, to learn the reputation they 
have as a branch of work. 

Fourth — The time otherwise lost running after the 
repairs when done outside. This item is placed last, at 
the risk of having fault found with the arrangement, 
for there is no one who has had to look after the repairs 
of a wood-working establishment, especially when they are 
at a distance, who would not name this item first. It 
is unreasonable to expect a machinist to do a thing at 
once, or even at a definite time, when he has no oppor- 
tunity of making plans in 'advance ; or to expect him to 
serve several at the same time ; and it often costs more 
trouble and time to attend to repairs than they are worth. 

A wood workman generally, from the nature of his 
business, knows something about metal fitting and machine 
work ; on the contrary, it is rare that a machinist knows 
anything of wood cutting ; hence, without drawings, it is 
almost impossible to convey an idea of what is wanted, 
except by immediately directing the workman, which is 
generally an equal and more distasteful duty than doing 
the work oneself. 

With an outfit for repairing such as has been described, 
a wood-working factory may, by purchasing castings for 
hangers, pulleys, and bearings, when wanted, fit all shafts 

G 2 



84 the operator's handbook. 

except the main line, which, for reasons already given, 
should be bought from a first-class house that is regularly 
in the business. 

Spindles, and shafts of all kinds that go on wooden 
frames, can be made ; cutters, when of solid steel, can be 
cut off from the bar, bevelled, drilled, slotted, and tempered. 
Pulleys of all kinds within the swing of the lathe can be 
bored and turned. In short, nearly all operations that 
appear in the expense account of machine-shop bills will 
be saved. It leads also to a kind of self-sustaining spirit 
in the works, and this to a community of interest, that is 
always a characteristic of successful business. 

It must however be remembered that this plan of 
doing their own machine work is not recommended for 
small shops ; or, rather, it is not recommended as a paying 
investment, unless the tools can be kept at work a reason- 
able portion of the time. 

A separate room, where the wood-dust cannot get in, 
is needed for this iron work. To put iron tools into the 
same room with wood tools is to make a failure of the 
experiment; the small tools are mislaid, the whole covered 
with dust, and the spirit of the thing lost. A room need 
not add much to the expense, because such a place is 
needed, whether there are iron tools or not, and the little 
space required for a lathe and forge does not much increase 
its size. Grindstones, saw filing vices, oil, and stores, can 
all be kept in the machine room, and in most cases one man 
can repair, file saws, grind cutters, and give out stores be- 
sides doing such new machine work as is needed and the 
tools will perform. 

For the assistance of those who are not practically 
skilled in the use of an engine lathe, it is thought best to 
append some instructions and hints, which may be of use. 



THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 



85 



Fig. 36. 




An engine lathe will perform nearly all the operations of 
machine fitting, except planing, and even this can be done 
to some extent on a lathe that has 
a strong screw and gearing. For 
drilling, have a stem pad, like 
Fig. 36, to go into the poppet 
spindle, and a number of wood 
blocks, of different dimensions, to 
build up under the work when 

drilling. Keep these blocks at hand, and do not have to 
go into the shop to search for new ones each time they 
are wanted. 

When two or more holes have to be drilled exactly 
parallel, take out the tool post, and bolt the piece to the 
tool block, as in Fig. 37 ; it can then be moved across 
the lathe by the tool screw to bore any number of holes 

Fig. 37. 



(Do 



«swswss\> 



L 



^ 



-9 



in a true line, or the piece can be turned on the bolt to 
bring different points to the drill. Do not use the turning 
feed in drilling, but move the carriage by means of the 
tail screw. 

If a key way is to be cut in a pulley or wheel, first bore 
it, and then lock the lathe with the back gearing ; put a 
thin slotting tool in the post, and by operating the slide by 
hand it can be planed out perfectly true, and in less time 
than it could be chipped. The tools for this purpose should 




CO THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

be narrow, not over an eighth of an inch wide, and the 
work done at several operations, Fig. 38. If the key is 
Fig. 38. wide the pieces between can be cut out with 
a chisel at a few blows, or cut out on the 
lathe by using a stiffer tool. To cut key 
ways in shafting, drill a hole at the end 
where the key way stops, mount the shaft 
between the centres, lock the lathe, dog the 
piece to keep it from turning, and proceed by hand move- 
ment, as in the other case, using a narrow stiff tool. 
Never use the turning or screw-feed in any of these opera- 
tions, or it may be found necessary to go out for repairs, 
notwithstanding your own machine shop. 

In making steel spindles, do not try to anneal them ; cut 
them off in the lathe by removing the tail stock if the bar 
is too long, catching the end in the chuck and running it in 
the centre rest, which is a better plan than to heat it, and 
will, if we count the squaring up of the ends, be less work 
than to do it at the forge, which requires two men instead 
of one. The same rule applies to shafting generally, a bar 
of any length can be put in a lathe in this manner and cut 
into pieces as long as the same lathe will turn. Have a 
breast drill for the purpose, and drill all the centres ; never 
depend upon a punched centre for work of any kind. The 
breast drill will be found handy for many other purposes, 
such as drilling oil holes about machines without taking 
the work down, and for small holes generally. 

Bolts and screws are now articles of merchandise, like 
nails, and can be bought of any diameter or length from 
several firms who make a specialty of their manufacture ; 
odd screws can be made in the lathe. Left-hand nuts for 
saw mandrils, and cases where but a special nut is used, 
can be chased on the lathe. 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 87 

Tempering tools that are not liable to spring is easily 
learned, and as the wood workman has the advantage 
of experimenting with the edges which he hardens, the 
chances are that with a little practice he can do it better 
than a smith. Tempering should be learned by everyone 
who uses tools, no matter of what kind. As a process it has 
but little more to do with forging than with any other 
branch of work, and is a question of judgment rather than 
skill. Slow regular heating, both before hardening and in 
drawing or tempering, is the main thing to ensure success. 
As to the proper shades and degrees of temper, they must 
be seen to be understood. If a piece of steel is hardened 
and then polished and reheated on a piece of hot iron, 
these shades of colour can be learned in one or two experi- 
ments. The first shade, pale -straw colour, is right for 
nearly all wood tools. 



MOULDING BEARINGS. 



Another kind of repair about our American woodwork 
shops is moulding bearings of alloy — making Babbitt metal 
bearings as it is generally termed, though for what reason 
it would be hard to say. The patent of Babbitt related to 
a mode of constructing bearings, and not to an alloy from 
which they were formed. We have to use some general 
name for the bearings and metal, however, and Babbitt is 
perhaps as good as any other ; but when we make a verb 
of it, and to speak of Babbiting bearings, the matter has 
gone too far, and it is better certainly to call it moulding 
them. 

Moulding bearings is one of the regular repair jobs 
about wood shops in America; and while almost anyone 



88 THE operator's handbook. 

can run a bearing of some kind, it requires both experience 
and judgment to do it correctly ; that is to say, that 
the shaft shall not be sprung by the heat on one side, 
and that the bearing will be of the proper diameter when 
moulded, with the metal solid and smooth. To this we 
may add, pouring without spilling the metal, burning the 
hands, or having what is too well understood as a blow- 
up. In fitting new machines that have moulded bearings, 
the metal should always be poured on mandrils prepared 
for the purpose, and not on the shafts themselves ; but in 
re-moulding them for a wood shop it is impossible to have 
templates for this purpose, because of the various diameters 
and lengths of the spindles, and the bearings have to be 
moulded on the shafts that are to run in them. This 
operation requires the greatest care to prevent springing 
the spindles, which will sometimes happen, no matter what 
precautions may be taken to prevent it. With short bear- 
ings, or those that run at a speed of less than 1000 revolu- 
tions a minute, there is little difficulty ; but in the case 
of saw mandrils, planmg and moulding spindles, shaping 
spindles, and so on, the bearings will sometimes heat in 
the most mysterious manner after being recast, and just 
when they are expected to perform well. 

Whenever it is practicable, both sides of the bearings 
should be poured or moulded at one time, and not at two 
operations, as is commonly the case ; it requires no more 
risk or trouble, and is sooner done, with much less risk of 
springing the shaft. To mould them in this manner the 
shaft or spindle should be first levelled up and set square 
or parallel with the planed surfaces on the frame or top of 
the machine by placing pieces of brass or wood beneath 
it, the packing then fitted, as shown in Fig. 39, with open- 
ings to allow the melted metal to run from the top to the 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK, 



89 



Fig. 39. 




bottom, also some vent holes towards the ends to allow 
the gas and air to escape. This packing can be of paste- 
board, wood, or of several 
layers of paper, to be 
removed for adjustment ; 
soft pine is perhaps the 
best kind of packing, and 
is always at hand. After 
the packing is fitted the 
cap can be screwed down 
firmly and the ends luted 
w r ith clay, if there are 

apertures large enough for the metal to escape. If the 
weather is cold, or in any case, it is best to heat the cap 
before putting it on ; it will soon communicate its heat to 
the rest of the bearing and the shaft, which should be 
turned round so as to be warmed evenly. 

In luting the ends with clay, do not paste them air-tight ; 
it is a mistake that often leads to a failure. Carry the clay 
up to the top of the cap, leaving a free opening or gate 
for the gas to escape. Bearings that are to be remoulded 
will, unless burnt out, always contain grease enough to 
create a quantity of gas when the hot metal is poured in, 
and unless it has free means of escaping, the bearing will 
be blown, and imperfectly filled. 

After the bearing has been moulded the gates can be 
broken off and the cap loosened by driving it endwise, or 
by wedging it up with a chisel : the harder kinds of metal 
are easily separated in this manner, and the softer should 
not be used for high speeds. 

In melting the metal, be careful not to overheat it, and 
to have it at the proper temperature when poured. If it is 
too hot the shrinkage is in proportion, and as this is the 



90 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

great trouble about moulding such bearings, the metal 
should be poured at as low a heat as it will run freely. A 
good plan is to thrust a pine stick into the metal after it 
melts, and as soon as it will burn the stick or cause it to 
smoke, it is hot enough, in fact, hotter than it need be, and 
should, when there are free gates to pour through, be 
allowed to stand to cool for a time after this test. Pour 
quickly and carefully, but without hurrying, and be sure 
that there is not something forgotten that may interrupt. 

After the bearing has been poured and trimmed, the 
next thing is to fit it. We are well aware that this propo- 
sition will be a new one to most wood-machine operators, for 
bearings are generally moulded and then started without 
fitting; yet there is no risk in asserting that without 
fitting three out of every four will heat at the beginning. 

It is evident that if the metal shrinks, as it must do, the 
bearing will be too small, unless the metal is so firmly 
fastened in the box as to prevent it from closing on the 
shaft. Even if it did not shrink, the bearing would be too 
close a fit to run cool, so that it must of necessity be fitted. 
To do this use a round-ended scraper, made by grinding a 
half-round file into shape, or by a scraper, specially pre- 
pared. A half-round file with its edges ground sharp is 
as good for the purpose as any tool that can be made ; 
those not accustomed to scraping can do better by using 
the sides instead of the end. First scrape the sides of the 
bearing, which are always too close ; then put the mandril 
in its place, and by turning it round it will mark the spots 
where it touches, which can be scraped off until it has a 
full bearing throughout. The cap can then be fitted in 
the same manner, and unless the shaft is sprung or other- 
wise imperfect there will be no heating. 

No bearing about wood machines that runs at a high 
speed, whether it be brass, composition, or iron, can run 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 91 

well without being fitted by scraping. It would seem that 
when they are moulded directly on the shaft it would en- 
sure a fit, but a little observation and a practical experi- 
ment will prove the contrary. 

Bearings that do not run at high speed, for countershafts 
or line shafting, can be made by winding a layer of paper 
about the shaft before casting them ; it not only provides 
for the shrinkage and brings the size right, but being a 
good non-conductor of heat, it prevents the metal from 
being chilled on the shaft, and will always ensure a sound 
smooth surface. A sheet of writing paper can be wound 
around the shaft and tied with a string outside the bear- 
ing, or a long strip of paper that is cut parallel and straight 
can be wound spirally on the bearing and held by the lips 
at the ends or tied with a cord as before. There is no fear 
of having the bearings too large by this plan ; it is the 
opposite fault that is to be guarded against. The fit will 
not be so good as one that is scraped, but will do very well, 
except for high speeds. 

As to the material for moulded bearings, there is no plan 
so good as to send to a responsible house which prepares 
these alloys and purchase the metal, explaining its purpose 
and leaving its composition to the manufacturer. 

In attempting to mix the metal there is generally more 
lost by oxidation and other waste than the profit of the 
regular smelter amounts to ; besides, the composition is 
rarely right, and seldom well mixed. 

For slow bearings, pure zinc or worn-out printer's type 
does well, but with all that run at high speeds the best 
metal is none too good. 

We may add on the general subject of the material for 
bearings in wood machines, in which every wood manufac- 
turer is interested, that moulded bearings made from 
alloys are only to be considered as an expedient for cheap 



92 THE operator's handbook. 

fitting, good enough in many places where there is no 
considerable pressure, but if there was wanting any proof 
to show that they are not best for wood machines, it would 
be found in the fact that they have to be continually 
renewed. The dust from wood machines which cannot 
be avoided gets into the bearings and clings with great 
tenacity to the soft metal, and the spindles are continually 
going out of line from the wear that must of necessity take 
place. Brass bearings about 6 parts copper to 1 of tin, 
or harder, are the best for high-speed spindles, and if 
properly fitted and taken care of, will last as long as the 
machine itself. After the most careful experiments with 
moulded bearings by some of the European builders of 
wood machines, they were discarded for brass bearings. 

These opinions on moulded bearings are given with a 
full knowledge of their extended use in many branches 
of machine manufacture, and the good results obtained in 
locomotive building and in marine engine work, but the 
conditions of high-speed wood machines require some- 
thing else, unless operated by the highest skill and by 
those who understand how to renew them in a proper 
manner. We have moulded bearings, however, on nearly 
all wood machines, and shall no doubt always have them 
for the cheaper class of machines, so that whether right or 
wrong, they must be taken care of. 



LUBRICATING WOOD MACHINERY. 

Considering the quantity of oil that is used in wood- 
working establishments, its cost, and the great difference 
between its careless and its economical use makes it a 
subject worth marked attention. There can only be* a 
certain quantity of oil utilized, no matter how much is 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 93 

poured on or wasted, and there is little risk in the assertion, 
that where a pint is needed, four pints are wasted. This 
waste leads to the use of cheap oil to reduce the expense, 
and the general result is that if the cheap oil used care- 
lessly was represented in good oil used carefully, it would 
be equal to the difference between sperm oil of the finest 
grade, compared with the poorest paraffine oils. 

Lubricating is, with most kinds of machinery, a question 
of economy, rather than of efficiency. At slow speeds, 
except when there is great pressure, almost any kind of 
oil will do for lubrication ; but in the case of high speed, 
as in wood-cutting machines, the very practicability of 
their operation depends upon efficient lubrication. 

It is not proposed to consider the character of lubricants 
here : they are all grease, or ought to be, and their lubri- 
cating power, or endurance, is directly as the amount of 
grease they contain, and as the amount of other matter 
they do not contain. It is to be regretted that, among 
the many exhaustive researches that have been made in 
scientific matters, but little, if anything, has been done 
to explain and fix standards for lubricating oils. Every 
manufacturer is annoyed by the persistent visits of the 
agents of paraffine oil dealers, who have some Latin, 
Greek, or Choctaw name for their compounds, which are 
represented as having some peculiar power of lubricating 
from their chemical nature. The fact is, in plain terms, 
that their worth is as the amount of grease they contain ; 
and as the market value of grease is nearly always 
constant, the different grades of oil can be considered as 
representing it in various states of dilution. 

Next to the quality of the oil the most important matter 
is how to apply it economically to the bearings. 

Constant lubricating can be considered as divided into 



94 the operator's handbook. 

the two general plans ; — circulating the oil in bearings, 
using it over and over again, and feeding it to the bearing 
as it is worn out or used up and then allowing it to run 
off. The first plan includes what are generally termed 
self-oiling bearings, constructed with cells or oil-chambers, 
beneath the shaft from which the oil is fed up with wicks, or 
in some cases through small holes, by capillary attraction, 
and after circulating through the bearing runs off into 
the oil-cell to be again fed up, until it is worn out. We 
have just passed through a mania for self-oiling bearings, 
which have been applied on all parts of wood machines, 
and we are now settling down to a more common-sense 
view of the matter, by looking for the best means of sup- 
plying oil to the bearings as it is required, or as it is worn 
out. To pour it on a bearing at intervals from a can, is 
simply to waste three-fourths of all that is used, even if 
done with ordinary care, and this plan is not to be con- 
sidered except in cases where no other can be applied ; so 
that the choice rests between circulating oil-cells, and the 
oil -feeders placed on the top of the bearing. 

The difference between the two plans may be stated as 
follows ; — with oil-cells the oil is circulated, or used over 
repeatedly ; the cells and the wicks are generally inac- 
cessible and out of sight ; the arrangement cannot be 
applied to bearings at pleasure, but must be specially 
constructed when they are made ; and more important 
than all, the workmen, as a rule, have but little confidence 
in a thing they cannot see, and oil bearings as often with 
their cans as though there were no oil-cells. 

With the glass oil-feeders that are now used, the oil is 
fed to the bearing as it is needed ; the supply of oil can at 
all times be seen ; the feeders can be applied to almost 
any bearing, no matter what its construction. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



95 



There is, however, this objection to the last plan, that 
the oil will be fed and wasted when the machine, or bear- 
ing, is not running — a difficulty that we are not likely to 
get over without adding complication. 

This waste is, however, more than compensated in the 
fact that the workmen have confidence in these feeders, 
and will take care of and rely upon them to oil the bear- 
ings, which is not the case with the concealed oil-cells. 
One of the most prominent of engineering firms has by 
careful experiments determined that a given quantity of 
oil will last a longer time and give a better result, if fed 
to the bearing from the top and when worn out allowed 
to run off; and considering the facility with which these 
oilers can be applied with the certainty of their action, we 
have no fear in recommending them for wood machines. 

The wicks should be of wire wound round with textile 
material, ordinary wicking for instance, which can, by 
closing it together or stretching it on the wire, be made 
to feed more or less as required. 

All the bearings of wood machines that run at a high 
speed should have tallow-cups, no matter what other 
means are used to lubricate them ; they cost nothing, 
and are equivalent to placing a sentinel, or safeguard, 
over the bearing to protect it from accident in case the 
ordinary means of oiling should fail. 



Fig. 40. 





Fig. 40 shows a common box-cap with a tallow-cup as 
they should be arranged whenever there is room above 



96 the operator's handbook. 

the bearing. The oiling is effected through the centre hole 
in the boss, while the cavity around it is to be packed with 
tallow. If the bearing heats, the tallow is melted, and 
runs through the holes seen at each end. These holes 
should be as large as the size of the shaft will admit, so 
that the tallow can remain at all times in contact with the 
shaft. 

Tallow alone is too hard, it requires too much heat to 
melt it, except in warm weather, and should be mixed 

with lard, when necessary, to give 
FlG - 41 - the proper consistency. 

For bearings that run at the 
highest speed a good plan is to 
cut a narrow groove along the top 
and bottom, as seen in Fig. 41, 
which, if filled with felt, or soft 
wood, retains and distributes the 
oil over the surface, and forms a lodging place for dust or 
grit that may get into the bearing. 




THE CARE OF BEARINGS. 

The care of bearings can hardlv be considered as be- 
longing to repairing machinery, and it is thought best to 
notice it as a separate matter. 

To take care of the bearings of a high-speed wood 
machine, is one of the most intricate and difficult things 
which the operator has to do, and even after years of ex- 
perience he can seldom tell at once, or with any cer- 
tainty, the cause of a bearing heating. 

When a bearing becomes hot, a machine stops ; if on 
the engine or line shafts, all the machines stop; so that 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 97 

it is an important matter to know how to treat it. To 
remove the cause is of course the best plan, and the first 
thing to be done ; but the cause is sometimes not so easy 
to determine. Aside from becoming dry for the want of 
lubrication, the cause of heating may be want of truth in 
the shaft, either from not being round or from being 
sprung. It may be for the want of a fit, and lack of 
surface, from being too tight, or from over-pressure — that 
is, too much pressure for the amount of surface. 

Among all these the question is first to tell with which 
the trouble lies ; and next, how to apply a remedy in the 
soonest and surest manner. When a bearing heats, if the 
shaft is small, and can be freed from gearing and belts, 
first try to shake it with a lever, or otherwise, to see if it is 
loose enough ; if so, next screw down the cap until it binds 
a little, and then turn the shaft by hand, watching carefully 
whether it binds at one place more than another ; the least 
irregularity can be discerned in this way, and indicates that 
the bearing is not round, and needs turning. If the 
shaft is crooked, it is detected by holding a point against 
it while running — a matter that anyone understands. 

If none of these things appear, next take the shaft out 
and examine the bearing ; see where the shaft bears, 
whether at one end only, or on a line through the bottom, 
or on the sides. Examine the cap to see whether it shifts, 
so as to bind on the sides. This want of surface is the 
most common cause of heating w T ith the bearings of new 
machinery, and, perhaps, the most common in bearings 
that have been remoulded ; if out of truth, scrape off the 
points where the shaft bears until it touches throughout, 
as explained previously. Use good oil in starting, and if 
necessary cool the bearing for a time with water. 

Never place any faith in compounds of plumbago, salt, 

H 



98 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

soap, or anything of the kind ; they may have claims as 
lubricants, but it is generally a waste of time to try to 
conquer a hot bearing by any other plan than to correct 
the mechanical defect, which lies at the bottom. 



THE PEINCIPLES OF WOOD CUTTING. 

It was intended to confine this treatise as much as 
possible to practical shop matters, and not to include the 
principles of machine construction or of machine action ; 
but it is evident that a mechanic qualified to take care 
of, to set, arrange, and adjust, or to devise ways and 
means of working with cutters, should proceed upon 
general principles and understand the theory of their 
action. Therefore the following brief article on the 
subject, from the writer's ' Treatise on the Construction 
and Operation of Wood-cutting Machines,' may be read 
with advantage. 

" Cutting wood consists of two distinct operations ; cross 
cutting the fibre, and splitting it off parallel to its lamina- 
tion or grain. 

" The two operations are in all cases combined ; for to 
remove the wood both must be performed, and to go in- 
telligently about the construction of machines and cutters, 
this principle must never be lost sight of. The greatest 
amount of power and the best edges are required to cross 
cut the fibre. To illustrate by a familiar example ; — To 
cross cut a block 12 inches square requires a considerable 
amount of effort and time, but a single blow will serve to 
split it in two, parallel to the fibre. 

"This principle exists throughout the whole range of 
wood cutting with the same general conditions in all cases ; 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 99 

a boring auger furnishes another example, different from 
the one given as an operation, but the same in principle. 

"In boring, the main power is needed to cross cut the 
fibre with the ' spurs ' or 'jaws ' while the wood is split off 
and raised from the bottom of the hole without much 
effort ; the spurs require frequent sharping, must have 
thin edges, and are soon worn away ; while the opposite is 
true of the radial or splitting edges, which may be blunt or 
dull, and yet work well enough and without much power. 

" Another principle to be observed is that the cross 
cutting or cross severing of the fibre must precede the 
splitting process ; the cross-cutting edges must act first and 
project beyond the splitting edges. There are no exceptions 
to this rule, which is from necessity carried out in most cases ; 
yet it is not unfrequent to find tools working on the contrary 
principle, tearing instead of cutting away the wood. 

"In some cases the wood is cross cut at such short 
intervals or lengths, that no splitting edges are needed, 
yet the operation is the same. A splitting saw is an 
example of this kind; each tooth cuts away its shaving, 
transverse to, or across the fibre, which is split off in the 
act of cross cutting without requiring separate edges. The 
cross-cut saw is an example of the same kind, although 
apparently different ; the different shaped teeth that are 
required arise from the manner in whicn they are applied. 
With the ripping or slitting saw the plate is parallel to 
the fibre, and with the cross-cut saw it is transverse to the 
fibre; the cutting edges in both cases have nearly the 
same relation to and act in the same manner on the fibres 
or grain of the wood; in short, the difference between 
cross cutting and ripping saw teeth comes from the 
rotation being with or across the grain, and not from a 
difference in the operation of cutting. 

h 2 



100 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

" The line of the edge is parallel to the plate in cross 
cutting, and transverse to the plate in slitting. As before 
remarked all operations in wood cutting are the same 
in principle, and can be resolved into some such simple 
propositions as follow ; — 

"First. — Wood cutting consists in two operations or 
processes ; cross cutting and splitting. 

" Second. — Tools for wood cutting must have indepen- 
dent edges directed to these two operations, unless the 
wood is cross cut into short lengths, as in the case of saws. 

" Third. — The cross-cutting edges must project beyond 
those for splitting, and act first, as in grooving and 
tenonino: heads. 

" Fourth. — Cross-cutting edges will, if applied at ' an 
angle to the fibre,' act with less power and be more 
durable. 

" Fifth. — Splitting-edges act best when parallel to the 
fibre, but * at an angle to the direction of their movement.' 

" Sixth. — Cutters for perforating, or end tools, as we 
will call them, should be arranged to have their action 
balanced across the centre whenever practicable, to pre- 
vent jar and vibration." 

These propositions comprehend the whole system of 
cutter action, and as all wood manufacture is by cutting, 
they may also be said to comprehend all that is done in 
working wood. 

We shall not attempt to show their application to 
planing, moulding, rabbeting, sawing, grooving, shaping 
and other cutters, the reader can observe this himself, and 
thus will acquire, if he has not already done so, a general 
idea of principles, that will guide him in making, setting, 
and arranging cutters for all kinds of work, without fear 
of making mistakes and without having to try whether 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 101 

this plan or that plan will work. It will also furnish a 
clue to the proper form of saw teeth, shearing knives, and 
other details, about which there is a great diversity of 
opinion. 



THE ANGLE OF WOOD CUTTERS. 

While the operators of wood machines are not expected 
to construct their own cutter-heads, it is expected that they 
will furnish plans and instructions to others as to how 
they should be made, and as the angles at which the cutters 
act is an important matter in the making of machines, it 
deserves some notice here. 

The views given on the subject and the examples 
shown are not based upon theoretical inference so much 
as upon practical experiment. There are some very ob- 
scure conditions connected with the action of wood cutters ; 
if they moved as slowly as metal-cutting tools we could 
observe and note the process of their action, but when 
in motion they are practically invisible, and nothing can 
be determined except by comparative experiments. 

A general object among wood workmen seems to be to 
get as low or acute an angle for cutters as possible, 
regardless of the particular uses to which they are applied, 
and then to prevent slivering, or pulling out the wood, by 
means of caps. There are, of course, exceptions to this 
rule, especially with small cutter-heads, as in the case of 
shaping machines, but exceptions are generally necessary 
from the form of constructing the cutter-head rather 
than the result of any plans that have reference to the 
work. Never trouble with nor attempt to use caps on the 
cutters of power machines; they are expensive, inefficient 
to perform the intended purpose, and besides unnecessary. 



102 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

Any kind of wood, including boxwood, rosewood, soft 
wood or green wood of all descriptions can be worked 
without caps, or chip breakers, as they are sometimes 
called, simply by giving the edges a proper angle, and 
attending to other conditions to be noted. 

In planing veneers by hand it has long been demon- 
strated that the plane iron requires a much higher angle 
than for other work. It is also known that scraping tools 
with blunt edges are the only tools that can be used in 
turning hard woods or ivory ; in fact with all hand tools 
the principle of varying angles adapted to the work seems 
to be well known and generally applied, but when we 
come to power tools w r e find planers and moulding 
machines made with their cutters at a constant angle, 
usually as acute as possible. 

In determining the angle of cutters the following pro- 
positions are laid down ; — 

1st. In cutting clean pine for surfacing, matching, or 
moulding, the angle of the cutters can be as low as prac- 
ticable to clear a good washer and holding bolt with a 
standard head. 

2nd. An acute angle requires a thin edge, and a thin 
edge cannot at the same time be a hard one, nor, for that 
reason, a sharp one, except in working soft clean lumber. 

3rd. An edge may be hard, and kept sharp, as the angle 
is obtuse and the bevel short. 

4th. In cutting thin shavings the operation is altogether 
cross cutting, and a sharp edge is more important than a 
thin one. 

5th. As the angle of cutters becomes more obtuse, or 
higher, the shape of the edge approaches nearer to having 
the same profile as the work, and the cutters for moulded 
forms are cheaper and more easily made and kept in order 
than if at a low angle. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



103 



From these propositions we can deduce the following 
rules, which are recommended to operators when they 
have occasion to determine the angle and bevel of wood 
cutters ; — 

For planing soft wood the angle at Fig. 42, of 40 degrees, 
is suitable. 

Fig. 42. 




Fig. 43. 




For mixed work, partly soft and partly hard wood, the 
angle at Fig. 43 is preferable ; it is a mean to comprehend 
the two kinds of wood. 



104 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



For working hard wood alone, such as oak, ash, walnut, 
cherry, or mahogany, the angle Fig. 44 is best, while 



Fig. 44. 




for the very hardest varieties, such as boxwood, rosewood, 
banyan, cocoa, and ebony, working crotch or cross-grained 
wood, or at an angle against the grain, the cutters should 
be set as in Fig. 45. 

Fig. 45. 




It is becoming of late years a common thing for planer 
men to grind a short bevel on the under side of the knives 
for working hard or cross-grained lumber, which is sub- 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 105 

stantially the same thing as changing the angle of the 
cutters and making the bevel shorter. It is an excellent 
plan, as it would be impossible to change the cylinders 
when a machine has a variety of work to do, but by having 
some extra knives ground at different bevels it becomes 
an easy matter to change them, and one that will pay 
well for the trouble, especially if the knives are tempered 
harder as the bevel becomes more obtuse. 

It will be found in practice that a set of knives that are 
hardened to a very pale straw colour, and with a bevel 
ground on the face side, just enough to keep the edge from 
breaking out, will run twice as long and do smoother work 
on walnut, ash, or oak wood, and will not pull out the 
stuff where it is knotty or cross-grained. 

It has also become a common practice in some parts of 
the country to turn the matcher cutters of flooring 
machines upside down, that is, to turn the grinding bevel 
to the lumber ; this is an effort in the same direction ; a 
slow change from the necessities of practice, instead of 
from inference, as it might be. This way of getting an 
obtuse angle is going a little farther than is recommended 
here, but to halve the matter by grinding on both sides will 
be found an advantage in matching hard wood, including 
yellow pine. The plan is an old one. The Knowles 
matching heads, introduced about 1850, had this idea 
fully carried out by having the bevel on the inside of the 
cutters ; they were always considered as being capable of 
working any kind of lumber without tearing, and without 
clips or pressure pads, yet for some strange reason the 
plan was not carried out in the common matcher heads, 
probably from their being too expensive. We will notice 
one more fact bearing on this matter, that of machines for 
making wave mouldings ; such mouldings are cut smooth, 



106 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

and in part at an acute angle against the grain. These 
mouldings are not as a rule torn or spoiled in working, 
yet the whole secret of their manufacture, often a matter 
of curiosity, is nothing more than to set the cutters at 
right angles to the face of the moulding. The feed move- 
ment is given to the wood, and the reciprocating motion to 
the cutters, which act as scrapers. 



SHARPENING CUTTERS AND SAWS. 

If the cost of sharpening cutters and saws in a wood- 
working factory were added to the profits, it would make 
a great difference in the earnings. We have no idea of 
the cost until we keep an account of the time — the 
detention of machines, wear of files, and grinding ma- 
chinery, and the wear of the cutters themselves due to 
grinding and sharpening. 

Corundum or emery wheels are now generally used for 
dressing both saws and cutters, and their introduction 
during the last five years has been one of the principal 
improvements that has taken place in wood manufac- 
ture. The saving of both time and files, and the more 
accurate grinding that can be done on cutters, amounts 
to a saving of onetwentieth of the whole labour* account 
for machine work, when these wheels are properly and 
fully applied. 

Saws are now sharpened with such wheels, in cases 
when they can be removed from their mandrils ; and there 
is no doubt that lumber mills could be fitted with a port- 
able grinding apparatus, that could be adjusted to the 
teeth in such a manner as to sharpen the saws sooner and 
better than with files. 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 107 

Fd. Arbey, a prominent builder of wood machines in 
France, fits his planing machines with grinding wheels 
that are traversed parallel to the cylinder, and produces 
with the arrangement edges that can in no other way be 
made so true and straight; they are absolutely perfect. 
We may grind planer knives tolerably straight with a 
common slide and a stone, using a straight-edge ; but when 
they are set, the chances are that they cannot be got true 
on the cylinder ; but with this self-contained grinding 
apparatus the edges are ground precisely parallel to the 
axis of the cylinder, besides avoiding the inaccuracy and 
loss of time needed to remove and reset them. Often the 
machines have to be stopped during the time of grinding, 
and the chances are that the detention will be less than 
what would be required to remove and reset the knives 
without grinding them. The attention of wood manufac- 
turers is invited to this thing as one that may effect a 
great saving and convenience. 

It was remarked at the beginning that the main wear 
upon cutters was from grinding. This should have read by 
improper grinding. 

Two-thirds at least of the wear of flat or straight 
cutters come from careless grinding, or over-grinding. 
To grind a cutter up to its edge makes a waste of from 
e¥ to ^V of an inch of its length in all cases. The ground 
edge is not fit to work with, and after grinding it is neces- 
sary to whet a new 7 bevel for a working edge before using 
it, and the cutter is then just in the condition it would 
have been if the grinding had been stopped short of the 
edge, leaving what we will term a whetting bevel. This is 
especially true of moulding cutters with an irregular profile 
at their edges, which should from the nature of their work, 
if there were no other reasons, have a compound bevel. 



108 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

Fig. 46 shows a cutter with a compound or double bevel 
and Fig. 47 one with a single bevel. 

Fig. 46. Fig. 47. 




Now that the cutter shown at Fig. 46 is as stiff and 
strong as the one at Fig. 47 no one will dispute, and that 
the first is more easily whet and ground is obvious. 

The art of taking care of cutters consists in whetting 
the edges as the wear requires it, and never grinding to 
the edge, or near enough to weaken it. If a cutter is not 
straight, joint it the first thing, then grind the whetting 
bevel very carefully, and afterwards the grinding bevel, 
which should never come nearer than Jg of an inch from 
the cutting edge. 

For planer-knives, have a coarse grain, soft stone, of the 
kind known as machine stone, not less than 40 inches in 
diameter when new ; have a tight water box and hood, 
and in grinding use a heavy stream of water; the stone 
should be strongly belted, and instead of rubbing for an 
hour to make an edge on a fine hard stone, you will in ten 
minutes finish the knife, and have fifty minutes saved to 
devote to some more agreeable work. Grinding flat cutters 
is not — or at least should not be — making an edge ; it is 
removing the surplus material used to support the edge. 

For moulding irons, emery wheels are best. They 
should, however, for this purpose be specially arranged by 
having not less than five wheels on a spindle, arranged so 



THE OPERATOR S HANDBOOK. 



109 



that they can be shifted 
and put on instantly, as 

The machines manu- 
factured and sold in 
the market for ordinary 
grinding purposes are 
not fitted for use in 
wood shops, and it is 
better to have them 
specially made, as in 
Fig. 48, than to pur- 
chase the ordinary ma- 
chines used for general 
grinding. There will, 
no doubt, in time be 
modifications for mould- 
ing cutters ; but there 
are none now in general 
use that are convenient. 

The wheels can be 
moulded on the flanges, 
as seen in the section 
at the centre, the emery 
being from 2 to 3 inches 
deep, which is as much 
as can be worn out in 
any case ; manufac- 
turers of wheels will 
furnish the disks, or they 
can be prepared and 
sent to their works to 
have the rims moulded 
on them. 



to different positions, or taken off 
may be required. 




110 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

In preparing the disks, or centre plates, have at least 
two sets, so that one can be sent to have the rims renewed 
while the others are in use. 

Fig. 49 represents a wet-stone machine for grinding 
moulding irons, used in the large mills in England. It is 

Fig. 49. 



well adapted to the purpose, and with the proper kind 
of stones will last a long time, and preserve the shape 
on the periphery. There is no doubt, however, of the 
emery wheels being best, after the men have learned to 
use them. At first, the stones will have the preference, as 
the use of the wheels requires some special knowledge 
and skill, while grinding with stones is well and generally 
understood. 

For working flooring and other kinds of planing, thin 
flexible cutters made from the best sheet cast steel, from 
14 to 12 gauge in thickness, will be found a cheap and 
effective kind of knife ; they are now regularly made 
to any pattern by saw makers and tempered to a hard 
filing temper, so that they can be sharpened on the 
cylinder without taking them off. To hold them there 
should be used a stiff steel cap, T % to | in. thick, slightly 
concave on its under side, and made without having the 
bolt holes slotted. In many cases thin knives of this kind 
are used by placing old cutters on the back, instead of 
having proper caps made, a plan that is apt to lead to a 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. Ill 

bad result. Their use is no experiment, and when adopted, 
if at all, it should be done, like everything else, under fair 
conditions and not with a view to experiment only. The 
successful working of these thin cutters depends upon their 
being held firmly, and in any case where they have failed 
to work satisfactorily, it will generally be found that the 
fault was in the caps, unless it was from the bad quality 
of the steel. Sheet cast steel from the best makers is by 
no means an inferior article for such cutters if carefully 
worked and not overheated in tempering. What will 
answer for a saw will not do for cutters that have sharp 
edges, not that a saw is not better if made from fine steel, 
but the ed^es are more obtuse and not so liable to break. 

These flexible cutters were patented first by Godeau in 
France, subsequently by Gredge in England, and perhaps 
several times in America, so that the plan is well patented, 
if that is to be regarded as a recommendation. In 
sharping these cutters, fine float mill saw files of the 
best quality should be used. As a rule it is an expensive 
plan to sharpen tempered steel tools with files, but in 
this case the cutter is so thin, and there is so little to file 
away, that when the time of taking off and resetting solid 
cutters is considered, there is a great saving of cost by the 
use of these thin ones, although sharpened with files. The 
edge must of course be finished with a stone to make it 
smooth. 

A good rule, or we may say a good improvement, 
about wood shops, can be effected by abandoning hard fine 
stones for grinding tools of any kind, except moulding bits. 
They are used under the false impression that they are 
to make edges, but are really a machine to remove and 
cut away metal, like a lathe or planing machine, with 
the difference that they will cut hardened steel, which 



112 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

the others will not; and until the grindstone comes to 
be considered in this light, it must be expected that a 
great waste of time and a great waste of tools will take 
place. In grinding, get a large stone of the kind before 
described, arrange so as to use plenty of water, without 
making a slop about the stone; have the belts strong 
enough to overcome any amount of pressure in grinding, 
and the result will be that from being a slow, tedious job, 
grinding will be but a trifle, and be done to a great deal 
more satisfaction by the workmen. 

For sharpening small tools, such as auger bits, mortise 
chisels, or others that have angular corners, have a neat 
case, containing about a dozen of good files with various 
sections, triangular, square, round, half-round, knife edge, 
flat, and so on, set in not to rub together, each one to 
have its own handle ; in the same case should be kept 
several slips of Washita stone, ground to various forms 
on their edges, to finish with. 

Wood workmen having every facility to prepare lockers 
and cases, generally verify the old proverb in being 
without them. In a machine shop there are, as a rule, 
places to keep tools and stores ; the planers, lathes, and 
drills have their lockers ; but in our wood shops the tools 
generally lie around loose, and are only found, when 
wanted, after a good hunt, provided the article has not 
gone out in the shavings and into the furnace. In the 
matter of files alluded to, how much neater and more 
economical it is to have a case to keep them in, than to 
have them lying on the benches, to be used for purposes 
not intended, and spoiled ; one-half the number will do 
if taken care of, and the whole time of hunting for them 
be saved, to say nothing of doing without them just when 
they are most needed. 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 113 

To go into a wood shop and find a job bench containing 
three or four files with the tips broken off, a cob handle to 
be used between them, a monkey wrench without a handle, 
or without a screw, a lot of nails, old bolts, paint pots, and 
other junk piled upon it, at once indicates the character 
of the establishment; and as what the manager does 
generally determines what the men do, he can be set down 
as responsible for the whole. We cannot therefore too 
earnestly recommend order and system in all things, espe- 
cially in such appliances as relate to tool dressing, which 
is the odd department in a wood shop, and an important 
one if measured by its expenses, all of which go to the 
wrong side of the accounts. 



SAWS AND SAWING MACHINERY. 
CIRCULAR SAWS. 

Circular sawing machines, or saw benches as they are 
generally called, are in America for the most part made 
by the wood manufacturers themselves, with wooden frames 
and wooden tops, both for slitting and for cross cutting. 

In speaking of saws, therefore, we shall consider the 
manner of constructing the machines as well as how to 
run them, because they are generally of home manu- 
facture, but more especially because the matter is one 
that deserves more consideration than it has heretofore 
received. They are, as a class of machines, less perfectly 
made than almost any other in use, which is only to be 
accounted for in the fact that we regard them as a kind of 
rough blocking-out machine, and perhaps because they are 
so familiar that we do not trouble to investigate them. 

Considering the great number of saws that are used, and 
that they are the principal and first machines in most 

I 



114 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

kinds of wood manufacture, it is strange that we do not 
make as much progress in their improvement as in other 
machines, or as their relative importance would seem to 
claim. Nothing is more common in wood shops than 
to find slitting benches six to eight feet long, with a 
mandril in the centre, and a guard extending nearly the 
whole length of the top. Even prominent makers are con- 
tinually building machines arranged in this way. A bench 
of this length with a guard extending past the plate cannot 
work properly or do true work ; and if it would, no one 
could reach it to operate with any convenience. The rear 
end of a bench is needed to support the timber after it has 
passed out of reach, but the front end next the sawyer 
should never be so long but that the saw can be easily 
reached, say from 20 to 24 inches beyond the teeth of the 
smallest saws used. 

The gauges should never extend much, if any, beyond 
the front teeth, as shown in Fig. 34, and described before ; 
there is no need of framing an argument in this matter, it 
is too plain to need discussion. 

With carriage saws, such as are used for jointing floor 
boards or slitting very long stuff, when the operator has 
to walk along the side of the bench, the saw may, of course, 
stand at any part of the bench; the centre of the slide 
would be the proper place, and a guard behind the saw 
may be needed, but not an extension of the one in front ; 
it should be a separate one, that can be set on a different 
line to prevent crowding the piece on the saw, and so that 
both gauges may be set parallel to the saw plate. The 
rear guard should only be used when indispensable, which 
means almost the same thin^ as not at all. 

Circular saws in America, except for timber cutting, 
are generally without guides to support them, and without 
packing boxes to keep the saw oiled and clear of gum. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



115 



Fig. 50. 




Fig. 51. 



The result is that the saws have to be at least one-third 
thicker in order to be rigid enough for their work, con- 
suming power, and wasting kerf in proportion. This needs 
thorough reform, 
and all benches 
where the top is 
not arranged to 
adjust for grooving 
should have guides 
and packing boxes. 
Fig. 50 is a section 
through a set of 
guides for the 
front, and Fig. 51, 
a section through 
a packing box for 
the rear, adapted 
to an ordinary rip- 
ping saw bench. 

The front half 
of the table a 
should be loose on 

the frame, and arranged to slide back to remove the saw. 
If made of wood it can be held flush with hard wood dowels 
or cross cleats on the bottom, and when together be held 
by iron dowels or screws passing clown through from the 
top. The front guides, Fig. 50, should be of hard wood, 
with the end to the saw, the bolt-holes slotted so as to set 
them up for wear. The packing or oiling boxes at Fig. 5,1 
are arranged the same way, so that the lower bars can 
be kept up against the plate. The chambers are filled by 
winding packing of hemp or cotton about a square strip of 
wood, until it will fill the cavity, and then soaking in oil 
before putting it in. Holes can be made to oil the pack- 

i 2 





116 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



ing regularly, and the effect will be found quite different 
from throwing oil on the plate — a most wasteful and yet 
common custom. 

The advantages derived from supporting the saw both 
at the back and front are obvious, and the experiment will 
satisfy anyone of its utility. In England all ripping saws 
are arranged for a packing, consisting generally of nothing 
more than a groove along the side of the plate, into which 
a bar of wood wound with packing can be pressed. This, 
of course, does for the front of the saw, but not so well 
behind, and is inconvenient in taking out the hand plates 
with which benches in that country are usually fitted. 

In addition to what has already been said about saw 
gauges, it is as well to observe that the greater their 
ingenuity and complication, the less their utility ; a rule 
that holds good in most other things. The guides and 
packing boxes beneath the top are out of the way, out of 
danger, and require no special attention ; but the gauges, 
with everything about the top of a bench, must be strong 
and simple. 

As it will often be necessary to make, or to have made, 
saw mandrils for different purposes, we give the following 
Table of dimensions, which can be referred to for pro- 
portions ; — 



For 
Saws to 


Diam. of 


Length 
over 


Diam. of 


Face of 


Length 


Diam. of 


Diam. of 

Hole in 

Saw. 


Number 
of Revo- 


Size of 


the 
diam. of 


Mandril. 


Bear- 
ings. 


Pulley. 


Pulley. 


Bearing. 


Cullars. 


lutions 
a Minute. 


Nut. 


10 




18 


5 


ii 
4 


ii 


n 
2i 


1 


3000 


7. 


15 




20 


6 


5 


5 


3 


H 


2700 


1 


20 


1 3 


24 


8 


7 


5i 


n 


H 


2400 


H 


25 




27 


10 


8 


6 


4 


n 


2100 


ii 


30 


1^ 


31 


12 


9 


7 


4i 


if 


1800 


13- 


36 


2 


36 


14 


10 


8 


5 


i 7 


1500 


H 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 117 

These proportions exceed those of common practice, 
especially in belt power, but are none too large to give 
a good result. Saw mandrils, instead of being as light 
as they can be to do their work, should be as strong as 
possible, to stand the speed, and there can be no reason 
for making them less, except a trifling saving in first 
cost, which in this, as in many other cases, turns out 
losing in the second cost. 

The saw collars should be of wrought iron, welded on ; 
the pulleys, when on the end, put on with a nut and a 
taper fit, without keys, which are not necessary. 

The form of teeth for ripping saws, would require 
lengthy notice to comprehend all the various plans in 
practice, and would be of but little use ; most operators, 
although they may not keep the teeth of saws to a proper 
shape, know what that shape should be. The proper 
form is easily determined, from the principles already 
laid down, as well as from the nature of the work, and 
the whole can be summed up in a sentence — have the 
points as thin, and at an angle as acute, as they will 
stand. 

In setting saws the custom is to bend the teeth : a great 
many set differently, but bending is the most common 
practice, so common indeed, that it is a bold assertion to 
say that it is wrong, or that another plan is better. Yet 
to bend a saw tooth, is not to set it, in a technical sense, 
and hardly in any other sense, for it soon comes out in 
working. A tooth in being set over must have a sharp 
blow on the inside to stretch the steel, and hold it in 
position, and as it is the easiest and truest plan to set saws 
of any kind with a hammer, there is no reason why it 
should not be practised. 



118 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



For setting circular saws, a frame, as shown in Fig. 52, 
is convenient. It consists of a rail, say 8x5 inches, of 



Fig. 52. 



CU 



(JL. 




r3! 



^ 



TOP. 



Mi l Ida 



hard wood, with a sliding block on top, fitted with wood 
studs of various sizes to fit the holes in the saws ; on one 
end is placed a steel laid anvil, to weigh from 15 lbs. to 
30 lbs., with its face bevelled off to, say, ten degrees each 
way from the centre. The saw being placed on the stud, 
is moved out or in upon the anvil until the teeth come 
over the centre ; the anvil is turned until its corner or 
apex comes across the tooth, in the position shown by the 
dotted lines, with the tooth standing over from ^ to J 
inch as the amount of set needed and the size of the 
tooth may require. The tooth is then struck a quick 
sharp blow with a light hammer, at an angle as shown 
by the line a, or several blows, until the bottom of 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 119 

the tooth is set over as shown. This forms a kind of 
curved scraper edge on the outside, which keeps the side 
of the tooth clea r of the wood, scrapes the surfaces smooth, 
and will stay there until filed away in sharpening. The 
teeth will be a little bruised after setting, but this bruising 
does no harm and is removed in a single filing. 

All kinds of circular saws can be set on the same device. 
It is cheap to make, always in order, and easily under- 
stood. The teeth of cross-cutting saws require setting at 
a different angle, but can be set in the same manner. 
Finally, on the subject of circular saws, they are too 
much regarded as a kind of blocking-out machine, to 
divide stuff into pieces that are afterwards to be brought 
to dimensions. This comes from the fact that the great 
object in the United States has hitherto been to save 
labour, and not, as in Europe, to save material. If a man 
in sawing has, from the imperfection of his machine, to 
allow an eighth of an inch on each piece for bad sawing, 
and his saw cuts out one-third more kerf than is necessary, 
he soon saws up his wages in waste, especially with the 
more valuable kinds of lumber. 

A sawing machine for slitting should be the most care- 
fully and accurately constructed in all regards; the 
lumber should and can be cut down to the size, leaving 
just enough to dress it smooth. The frames and tops, 
more than any other machine, need to be made of iron, 
so as to withstand rough use, dampness, and wear. These 
are not theoretical propositions, but deductions from the 
practice in countries where lumber is saved, a distinction 
that cannot long exist at the prices that lumber has now 
reached in the States. 

Cut-off saws, like ripping saws, are often built in the 
shops, with wooden framing, which is much better than in 



120 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

the case of slitting benches. They are divided into two 
kinds, those in which the saw is fed through the lumber, 
and those that have carriages for moving the stuff, the 
first for lumber that is long and unwieldy, and the second 
for shorter and lighter work. The carriage cut-off saw is 
best whenever the lumber is easier to move than the 
saw, and the swing or travelling saw in the opposite case, 
a rule easy to remember and easily understood. 

The carriage saw has an advantage in its greater sim- 
plicity, and the consequent durability, of its mechanism. 
The plans of construction are endless, and no suggestions 
of use can be given here, except that the carriages should 
be kept square by means of a rack on each end, gearing 
into pinions on a shaft extending along under the carriage ; 
this admits of its being mounted on rollers, which could 
not well be used without the squaring shaft. 



BAND SAWS. 



Among the improvements in wood-working machinery 
none have been so rapidly and generally adopted in 
America as band saws. From having, as we may say, 
none in use nine years ago (1864), we now find them in 
nearly every shop of any size, and in some cases not only 
doing scroll cutting, but used for straight lines. In at 
least one large establishment in New York city no cir- 
cular saws are used except for cross cutting — all other 
sawing, coarse and fine, being done on the band saws. 
As a matter of interest to the reader rather than to 
convey any useful information, we will mention that 
although it has so rapidly gone into use in the nine 
years past, the machine was invented in 1808 by William 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK, 121 

Newberry, of London, England, — not only invented, 
but built in a good practical working form, as drawings 
and descriptions yet in existence fully attest. Con- 
sidering its present importance and extended use, it is 
hard to realize or believe that a machine of the kind 
should lie dormant for more than sixty years after its 
invention. 

What the future of the band saw may be is hard to fore- 
tell ; but judged upon general principles that govern the 
operation of all sawing, there is a probability of its sup- 
planting every other method. Consisting of a thinner 
blade than can otherwise be used, capable of any degree 
of tension, and moving at a higher speed than it is pos- 
sible to run other saws, its advantages are too obvious to 
warrant any other conclusion. Besides, it cuts square 
through the lumber, and, as a very important advantage, 
is operated by rotary shafts and wheels running at a 
moderate speed. There is, in fact, nothing to prevent 
its use for every kind of sawing, unless it be from diffi- 
cult conditions of operation, which have not thus far 
arisen. 

The fear of breaking blades, or the inability to manu- 
facture them, seems to have been for forty years or more 
what deterred people from using the machines. This 
trouble has been overcome, and band saws of good quality 
will do as much cutting as other saws, measured by their 
value or cost. Joining the blades, from being regarded as 
the next thing to impossible, has become so simple a 
matter as to be performed in every shop, and almost by 
any person. 

To first speak of the blades, they should have a high 
spring temper ; if harder, they become more liable to 
fracture, are difficult to sharpen, and will be broken in 



122 the operator's handbook. 

setting. A saw that has not a good lively temper is 
comparatively worthless. 

It is quite impossible after a saw is finished to tell 
whether it is properly tempered throughout; if an inch 
even of its length has not been tempered, or is drawn by 
polishing or grinding, it is as bad as though the whole 
saw was wrong, for such spots cannot be found, and if they 
were found, there would be no remedy but to cut them 
out. We must therefore trust mainly to the skill and 
good faith of the saw makers, and should patronize those 
who have been longest and most successfully engaged in 
their manufacture. 

In selecting saws, a good plan to test the temper, if the 
saw is not joined, is to roll up the ends, and see if it will 
spring back straight or remain bent. If it spring back 
nearly to its first shape, the temper is good. The texture 
or grain of the steel, which is the only clue to quality, 
can be determined by breaking a short piece from the 
end of the blade. By unrolling the blade on the floor, it 
can be tested as to straightness. The ends, if laid to- 
gether, will show if it is parallel and of the same width 
throughout. 

The processes of joining now in use can be divided into 
brazing and soldering, the distinction relating mainly to 
how the joining is done rather than to any difference in 
its nature. In what is termed soldering, the melting or 
heating is effected with hot irons, and in brazing the saw 
itself is put into the fire. 

Brass, spelter, German silver, and other alloys can be 
used, for joining, any of which make a joint that, if well 
made, will be as strong as other parts of the blade, that 
is, will stand an equal tension, for the tendency to fracture 
is greatest alongside the joints, where the union takes 



the operator's handbooe. 123 

place between the tempered steel and the portion that is 
annealed in making the joint. 

For solder joints the silver solder of jewellers is con- 
venient ; it is strong and melts at a low heat. The most 
convenient form is to have it rolled in thin strips, so that 
pieces the size of the lap can be cut off and laid between. 
To make joints of this kind there is required a strong 
heavy pair of wrought-iron tongs and some kind of a frame 
to hold the saw straight, leaving the joint free at the ends 
to be clasped with the tongs. 

Fig. 53. 




Fig. 53 shows a pair of tongs and scarfing frame for 
soldering, adapted for blades to 2 inches wide. 

The saw should be scarfed or tapered at the ends for 
a length corresponding to one or two teeth, as the pitch 
may determine. This scarfing must be done true and 
level, or the joint will not be a close one. 

Next cleanse the joint with acid, to remove grease ; 
put the solder between, and clasp the saw with the tongs, 
which should have a full red heat. As soon as the solder 
runs, remove the tongs and apply a wet sponge or cloth to 
restore the temper in part. The joint can then be filed 
parallel by using a wire gauge or pair of calipers to 
determine the thickness, being careful to file the proper 
amount from each side. 

This last is in fact the most difficult part of the opera- 
tion, and requires great care to have the saw parallel and 
straight, without making it thinner at the joint than at 
other places. 



124 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



Fm. 54. 



Fig. 54 shows a forge for brazing band saws, which, 
aside from the original cost of the outfit, is the cheapest 

process, and certainly the 
best plan of joining nar- 
row blades. The fire is of 
charcoal, about 2\ inches 
square; the degree of 
heat is accurately regu- 
lated by the treadle, 
which is operated by the 
foot. 

The saw is first scarfed, 
as in the other case, the 
joint then wound with 
brass wire, fluxed with 
borax, and placed in the 
fire until the brass melts 
and runs into the joint ; 
the saw is then to be 
quickly removed from the 
fire and placed upon a kind of anvil, and the joint quickly 
pressed together while the brass is in a melted state. The 
detached pieces shown below are details of the forge, for 
concentrating the fire, holding the saw, and other pur- 
poses. 

One of the main points in operating band saws is to 
avoid bending the blades edgewise, which is more easily 
and frequently done than would be imagined. The wheels 
require to be so adjusted that the saw will only touch, 
and not bear against the back guides when not cutting ; 
and as different saws and different positions of the guides 
as to height will vary this back thrust, it requires constant 
attention from the sawyer. 




THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK, 125 

The amount of back pressure is easily determined by- 
placing a piece of wood behind the saw while it is running 
and pressing it forward, noting the amount of force it 
requires, and then setting the wheels until it bears lightly 
on the back. 

This edge strain, as we will call it, is generally provided 
for by an adjustment of the axis of the top wheel, which 
every machine should have. 

Different forms of teeth, the pitch, angle, and manner 
of setting, are questions of much importance with large 
saws that run with power feed; but for scroll cutting, 
slitting, and with narrow blades generally, the matter of 
teeth has not such importance — a fact that is sufficiently 
proved by the great diversity of both opinion and practice 
met with. 

For hand slitting saws from 2 to 2J inches are better 
than if wider. The perfection of manufacture and the 
truth of the blades is apt to be as their width, and beyond 
2\ inches wide the steel is not, as a rule, so good, or 
the saws so true and straight ; besides, the tension needed 
for 2^-inch blades is as much as an ordinary machine 
with shafts 2 \ inches diameter will stand. There is a 
general tendency to use wide saws for straight lines, but 
the experience of the oldest and best makers, such as 
Perin, of Paris, leads them to recommend narrow blades. 

The firm mentioned rarely make blades exceeding 3 
inches in width, unless to special order, and as we can 
hardly hope to wear out more than an inch or two of 
width in filing, it is difficult to imagine any use for the 
width beyond what will allow of this wear. For slitting, 
the bench and gauge can be of the common form, the 
bottom guide attached to the table and the top one carried 
on an adjustable bracket ; the speed can be from 5000 to 



126 the operator's handbook. 

8000 feet a minute, the wheels not less than 4 feet in 
diameter, either of wrought iron or of cast iron, bound 
with wrought-iron bands, to prevent danger. Plain cast- 
iron wheels are not suitable for any machine, even to run 
at a low speed ; for if strong enough to be safe, they must 
at the same time be heavy, which, for top wheels, throws 
a great strain upon the blades in starting the machine, 
and also in sawing causes the top wheel to overrun the 
bottom one when the saw first enters the wood. 



KESAWING MACHINES. 

Resawing lumber, the main business in the wood shops 
of other countries, is but a small affair in American mills. 

Most planing mills have a resawing machine of some 
kind, but it is only used to split thin boards and cut 
lumber that is too thin to be sawed in the forest mills 
and safely transported. In America lumber is nearly all 
forest sawn, and comes to the manufacturer cut to size, as 
near as can be, allowing for warping, shrinking, and irre- 
gularity; not cut first into deals or flitches for trans- 
portation, and then sawed again to sizes, as in Europe. 
For this reason resawing machines are not so important, 
nor so well understood in America. 

If we were to argue the merits of the two plans of 
lumber traffic, it would be a difficult matter to defend our 
own, or to show any reason for so great a waste as it occa- 
sions. No doubt one of the strongest reasons for the 
present system is the prejudice against resawing ma- 
chinery. In considering resawing, it must be remem- 
bered that a single blade splitting lumber of one to two 
inches thick, is a different thing from a gang mill with 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 127 

from six to twelve saws cutting flitches or deals, and to 
manufacture thin boards cheaply, the gang saw must be 
used. 

Thin saws and slow feed are the rule for English ma- 
chines ; the amount cut must be increased by the number 
of blades, instead of crowding and forcing one saw to 
do three times as much as it should ; our American 
system is the reverse of all this ; we try to, and do, force 
a- single blade through from 2000 to 3000 feet of lumber 
in a day, — a thing incredible to people who have not 
seen it, and the result is, as might be expected, bad 
sawing, and a great v/aste of both lumber and power. 

It is not expected to give any useful information about 
resawing mills such as we have in use ; they must soon 
pass away under a new lumber system, which enhanced 
prices are bringing about, and gang saws will no doubt be 
used for general resawing, and the band saw or circular 
saw for single lines. 

Resawing deep stuff that is crooked, seasoned and dry, 
when fed by rollers, is the most difficult of all sawing, 
and will be the hardest kind to do with band saws, as it 
is with all other saws; yet experiments thus far go to 
confirm its future success, and when it is considered that 
in cases where resawing has been done successfully with 
band saws, the machines have in most cases been small 
and poorly made, it assures the practicability of the thing 
under more favourable conditions. 

A band saw for resawing American lumber should never 
exceed 3J inches wide, nor be less than 40 feet long, the 
wheels 6 feet or more in diameter ; the speed of the saw 
from 5000 to 8000 feet a minute. The teeth require a 
coarse pitch, with a deep throat, but of some form to ensure 
great stiffness, otherwise set cannot be kept in them. 



128 the operator's handbook. 

For general resawing purposes, there is no saw better 
than a compact iron-framed reciprocating machine, to 
carry' from one to ten saws. What may be lost in speed 
while working but one saw, will be gained when a gang 
can be used; which would soon be a great share of the 
time when the system of resawing was once begun. The 
blades for such machines need not exceed 14 gauge, and 
in most cases be thinner. 

Looking, as we may, to a change in our. resawing ma- 
chinery, which is at this time open to that fatal objection 
of being too slow, there is no need for devoting any space 
here to the care and operation of the ordinary resawing 
mill, nor to gang machines before we have them. 



JIG SAWS. 



With respect to jig saws, the band saw and duplicating 
machines have driven the most of them out of use, and it 
is to be sincerely hoped that further improvements will 
do so entirely. What may be said of jig sawing need 
not consume much space here. For ordinary wood work 
a spring-strained fret saw to do the inside, or perforated 
work, is all that is needed. 

To set up a jig saw, select the strongest place in the 
building, over a girder, if on an upper floor; if on a 
ground floor, set it either on masonry or piles set in the 
earth from three to four feet deep. If the saw is on an 
upper floor, use a counter-balance equal to three-fourths 
the weight of the reciprocating parts; this throws the 
vibration on a horizontal plane, in which direction a floor 
is the strongest of all foundations. If set on an earth 
foundation, use no counter-balance, leaving the vibration 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 129 

to fall vertically, and be resisted by the foundation. Never 
drive jig saws at the highest possible speed ; the wear and 
tear of the machinery will more than balance what is 
gained in the speed of sawing. 

In selecting men to run jig saws, or any saw for irre- 
gular lines, two things must be considered — ingenuity and 
skill to take care of the machine, and the faculty of fol- 
lowing lines. Without practical experience, and reason- 
ing from inference alone, we should conclude that almost 
anyone could run a jig saw ; but that it requires a 
peculiar faculty is to the experienced a well-known fact. 
A ship caulker, a chipper, or a carpenter, in striking a 
chisel or in driving nails, cannot tell, or hardly knows, 
how the blows of the mallet or hammer are directed to the 
head of the chisels or the nails: in chipping and caulking, 
the blows are continually varying from one angle to an- 
other, apparently without effort or care. The same faculty 
that guides the hammer and mallet, whatever it may be 
called, is needed in jig sawing. The sawyer who has this 
faculty scarcely knows how he follows the lines ; he ap- 
pears to do so without effort, and depends, in a large 
degree, upon natural instead of acquired skill. Occa- 
sionally men, who have great trouble in learning other 
work, make good sawyers; some men cannot learn to 
turn, others learn with great facility, and a manager who 
would get the largest amount of w 7 ork done in the best 
manner, and in a way most congenial to the men them- 
selves, must watch these peculiarities, as they will be 
sure to appear among workmen. 

Saws for scroll work cut at all angles of the grain, 
and should have what the nature of the work would 
suggest, an intermediate form of teeth ; not pointed, as 
for cross cutting, or square, as for slitting ; but a mean 



130 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

between, and always in the hook form. A narrow 
blade is not capable of withstanding back thrust, and 
should, consequently, be so filed that the tendency will 
be to lead into the wood instead of crowding back. A 
triangular file gives a good shape for the teeth of web 
saws, if they are not too deep, and the pitch not less than 
one-fourth of an inch. Float files are not so good for 
filing web saws as the double cut, known as Stubbs' files, 
these, although they cost nearly twice as much, are the 
cheapest in the end, because of the longer time they 
will last. In selecting web saws, always examine how 
they have been ground by the saw makers ; if they have 
been hand scotched, as it is termed, by the grinders, and 
the bevel is irregular, they will work badly ; machine 
grinding is the only plan for producing a true blade, when 
it is narrow, and bevelled back from the teeth. 



PLANING MACHINERY. 

After sawing comes planing, and as sawing, except 
cutting out, is in America mainly done at the forest mills, 
planing is the leading operation in most varieties of 
wood manufacture. 

To operate planing machines intelligently and with 
the best result, one must understand the general principles 
of their operation, to which we will first call attention. 

Under the general name of planers are classed, first, 
carriage machines, in which the lumber is moved in true 
lines throughout its length by guides, known as dimension 
planers, traversing planers, Daniel's planers. 

Second, machines that reduce lumber to a uniform 
thickness, or thickness and width at the same time, the 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 131 

stuff being fed by rolls and moved continuously between 
stationary guides and the cutters, such machines known 
as surfacing machines, matching machines, and moulding 
machines. 

Third, surface planers, that cut away a constant amount 
of wood, gauged from the surface that is planed ; in other 
words, machines that have fixed pressure bars, both in 
front and behind the cylinders. The under cylinder of a 
double surfacing machine, or bottom cylinders generally, 
are examples of surface planing. 

These three classes of machines and their operations 
are different in principle, and give totally different 
results, yet the distinction hardly is recognized or 
understood. Everyone knows the difference in the ma- 
chines, and can tell what kind of machine is best for 
a certain class of work ; but generally, from facts gathered 
by experience, instead of a comprehensive knowledge of 
the principles of wood planing. There is, to be sure, 
nothing intricate in this difference between carriage, 
parallel, and surface planing, yet it is no uncommon 
thing to meet operators who have not studied the matter. 



CARRIAGE PLANING. 

All planing in straight lines has to be performed by 
means of carriages on which the lumber is moved, unless 
the pieces to be planed have two straight sides to guide 
them. A carriage is nothing more than a means of 
supplying for the time these two straight sides ; for when 
the piece to be planed is fastened to the carriage, the two 
are to be considered as one body, guided in two direc- 
tions, vertically and horizontally, by the track beneath, 



132 the operator's handbook. 

which supplies the straight sides the lumber itself lacks. 
To make it more plain we can say that the lumber is not 
gauged from and by the side opposite to the one being 
planed, as in matching or moulding machines, but from 
an artificial face, which has been attached to the piece 
to guide it, consisting of the platen or table and the 
guides on which the table moves. This is the only 
means of planing true, and we can hardly hope to see 
any great change from the present plans for planing out 
of wind. The fault is, it is so slow that continual expe- 
riments are being made to do work on roller feeding 
machines, only to be done on carriage machines. 

This want of speed must be met in some way, and is 
best remedied by using cross cylinders instead of travers- 
ing heads. The Daniels' planing machine, as it is called 
in America, was invented in 1802, by Bramah, and has 
ever since held its place as the standard machine for 
planing out of wind. It is no doubt best for some 
special kinds of work, but is too frequently used ; three- 
fourths of the planing performed on this machine 
can be as well or better accomplished, and from two 
to three times as fast, with a cross cylinder. The 
Daniels' planer, from the nature of things, must be slow 
in its action ; the length of cutting edge that can be 
brought to act in a given time is the exponent of a 
planer's capacity, and when we consider that in machines 
where the plane of rotation is parallel to the face of the 
wood the length of edge that can be used is no more 
than the depth, of the cut, the wonder is that they per- 
form so much. 

A Daniels' planer with two cutters will, in ordinary 
work, use only a half inch of edge when taking a cut of 
one-fourth inch deep ; a cross cylinder will, if it has 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 133 

three cutters 20 inches long, represent five feet of edge, 
or 120 times as much as the other machine. The work 
performed of course is not in this ratio, but the actual 
cutting capacity is. 

The result in working is, that while a 24-inch cylinder 
may plane 1000 feet of surface without sharpening the 
cutters, a traverse head will not plane ten feet without 
the edges being equally dull, but as they cut across the 
wood it can be bruised off with edges that would not cut 
at all if working parallel to the grain. 

The secret of faster planing, we can safely conclude, 
is not in continuous feed with rollers, which can never 
make true work, but in increasing the capacity of car- 
riage machines. With a traversing cutter-head the feed 
is only from 10 to 15 feet a minute ; with a cylinder it can 
be from 40 to 60 feet a minute on a good strong ma- 
chine. By cutting two sides at once, which is entirely 
practical on most kinds of lumber, and presuming that 
the same time is required in running back, the relative 
capacity is as one to five in favour of the cylinder, which 
ought certainly to be satisfactory. 

In the arrangement of a wood-working establishment 
for purposes which require that a part of the planing be 
true, and out of wind, there is seldom any absolute need 
of a traverse planing machine, and unless there is such a 
need for one, it is best to do without it. 

The beating down action of the cylinder, often pre- 
sented as an argument against the use of dimension 
planers on thin lumber, is in practice not so serious 
matter as it is generally thought to be. A cylinder that 
has its cutters sharp, and set at a proper angle, will 
plane almost any kind of stuff without springing it or 
beating it down. 



134 the operator's handbook. 

Both in EDgland and France they manage very well to 
do all kinds of planing on dimension planers, not only 
framing, bnt flexible stuff, which in America is always 
planed on roller machines. 

There is no question that in the United States too 
great a share of the planing is on roller machines ; the 
little time saved in planing, is generally lost in putting 
the work together, especially in cabinet work, and similar 
branches; and this tendency to roller feeding machines 
is only because of their more speedy performance, 



PARALLEL PLANERS. 

This class includes nine-tenths of all the planers in use 
in this country, including moulding machines, which do 
not differ at all in principle from what we term planers, 
except in capacity, and the arrangements required for 
profile planing. We use the term parallel, because it 
describes the function of the machines, which is to reduce 
stuff to a uniform thickness, straightening it in some 
degree to be sure, but not effectually. Such machines 
are adapted to but one class of work, stuff that can be bent 
or sprung into a straight line, as it passes through the 
machine, and keeping this in view, it is easy to determine 
what work should be done by parallel planing machines. 
The presumption is that any kind of stuff that will bend 
in passing through the machine can be afterwards sprung 
straight in putting it together. Flooring, ceiling, mould- 
ings, — in fact, every kind of stuff that is flexible enough, 
can, and should be, planed on parallel planing machines, 
which will plane two to four sides at the same time. 

A four-side machine, as it is called, although it planes 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 135 

all the sides of a piece, does not do so under the same 
conditions on each side. Two of the sides are surface 
planed, — that is, gauged from the surface that runs 
against the gauges and the bed ; the other two are 
planed parallel, gauged from the opposite side to the one 
being cut. 

The lumber is guided by its rough surface before 
coming in contact with the cutters, and will change the 
position of its irregularities as it passes through the ma- 
chine, but will retain them all. By this is meant that a 
bend in a piece too stiff to be straightened by the rolls 
and pressure bars, will not be in the same place after 
planing as before, but advanced to a distance equal to 
that between the rolls or pressure-bar and the cutters. 
For this reason, among others, we cannot plane lumber 
either square or straight on a parallel planer. The top 
and bottom cylinder will work parallel, and the vertical 
spindles may work parallel ; but as they cannot cut at 
opposite points at the same time, the piece may change 
its position between the horizontal and vertical cutters, 
and be correspondingly out of square. Everyone knows 
this in practice, and the discussion of it here is not 
expected to impart any special information as to how 
the operation may be changed or improved, but to assist 
in explaining the general principles, which must be un- 
derstood in order to dictate or suggest the construction 
of machines, and also to determine proper plans of doing 
work. 

When a piece has two straight sides, and is to be 
dressed all over, or one straight side, and be dressed 
on two, the work can, of course, be sooner and better done 
on a parallel machine ; so that when machines of both 
kinds are at hand, as is usually the case, the lumber can, 



136 THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 

after planing two sides on the carriage machines, go to 
the parallel machines to be finished, effecting a saving of 
time, and increasing the general capacity of the ma- 
chinery. In furniture making, for instance, if there is a 
lot of table-tops to plane, the best side can first be planed 
on the traverse or carriage machine, and the stuff be 
then run through the parallel machines, which saves time, 
and produces true work. 

Surfacing machines, as they are called, with an endless 
chain bed, are commonly used for rough surfacing in 
America, and if properly built in a durable manner, they 
do very well for the rougher class of work. Two changes 
are needed in them, which wood workmen ought to 
demand, and when ordering such machines make it a 
specification. The bed and the lumber line should be 
fixed, and the cylinder adjusted instead ; there is nothing 
more annoying than to have the line of the stuff changing, 
especially in surfacing, when the stuff should be run out 
of the way by the feed; besides, it is a most unmecha- 
nical arrangement to move three-fourths of the working 
parts of a machine in order to have the other fourth fixed. 

The other point alluded to is the chains, which should 
be stronger and better made. The running slats should 
be chilled on the bottom side, and the fixed bars, or bed, 
covered w 7 ith tempered steel — not soft steel, but hard 
steel. Without this there is no safety in operating these 
machines, especially on heavy stuff that requires a strong 
pressure to feed. Surfacing pine-boards gives no test of 
one of these machines; stiff timber framing, such as car 
timber, put through one for a few hours is better. 

In starting a new machine of this kind, great care is 
needed for a day or two at the beginning ; the chain and 
bearing bars have not then come to a fit, and are not 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 137 

smooth and polished. The chain — or rather, the bed — 
should be frequently oiled, or plumbago used with the oil, 
which can be dropped between the slats while the chain 
is in motion. Another fault that is often met with in 
these machines, is for the chain bed to be narrower than 
the cylinder and the rated capacity of the machine. This 
is merely one of those subterfuges too often adopted to 
convey an erroneous impression of the capacity of ma- 
chines ; the Daniels' planer is, for instance, generally rated 
as planing to the whole diameter of the cutter-head, 
whereas, as anyone knows, such machines should have 
their cutter-heads at least one-fourth larger in diameter 
than their rated width. 

Of what we have termed surface planers there need be 
nothing said. With the exception of the scraping planer 
of B. D. Whitney, there are no machines of this class in 
general use. They relate, as the name indicates, to pre- 
paring surfaces ; and with the progress that is at this time 
being made in polishing machines for wood, we are not 
likely to see a more extended use of planers of this kind, 
that have rotary cutters. 



ABRASIVE, OR POLISHING MACHINES. 

Sand-paper is almost as old as the art of wood work- 
ing and wood cutting ; yet while we have called in the 
natural forces and employ machines to effect the cutting, 
the polishing is mainly by hand. Power-polishing ma- 
chines are, it is true, in common use for some purposes, 
such as finishing spokes for wheels, and oval turned work 
generally. Buffing wheels for chair stuff are also in 
common use ; but the question is, why stop here ? espe- 



138 the operator's handbook. 

cially as the application of these power-polishing appli- 
ances has been mainly to cylindrical or irregular sur- 
faces, and is successful ; why not to plane surfaces as well ? 
The truth is, power-polishing has not been looked into 
so closely or so carefully as it might have been, or 
this hand-rubbing process would be exceptional. Abra- 
sive cutting, we will term it, need not be confined 
to smoothing merely; it is unquestionably cheaper to 
reduce wood with cutters when there is any consider- 
able amount to be cut away ; but in smoothing off doors, 
blinds, and other work that is framed with the stuff 
at angles, this grinding process is the cheapest one for 
flushing the shoulders, and finishing work after it is put 
together. It combines the two operations of planing off 
and sand-papering in one, and is at this time applied with 
great success in many of the largest mills in various parts 
of the country. It is regretted that the state of the art 
just at this time is such that there is nothing to warrant 
any more than a brief notice of it, to call attention to its 
importance, and to the probable saving which it will effect. 
There is no use in writing about undeveloped machinery in 
America. It may do in Europe to give plans, drawings 
or dissertations on a machine one or two years old ; but in 
America the whole thing may pass away and be supplanted 
with something else while the description is in the press. 

The pneumatic fans now in general use remove the 
dust, which has no doubt been one of the main causes why 
polishing machines have not been more used. 

Experiments thus far have given the best result by 
moving the grinding surfaces in a plane parallel to the 
surface of the wood, like a traversing planer. 

Barker's machine, working on this plan, is at present 
extensively and successfully used for cleaning off doors 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



139 



and other joiner work, and in the preparation of plane 
surfaces generally, either for painting or varnishing. The 
endurance of the sand-paper, measured by the amount of 
surface gone over, is about as five to one contrasted with 
hand work, and when estimated by the wood cut away, 
not less than as ten to one ; that is, a superficial foot of 
paper will cut away ten times as much wood, if properly 
used in a machine, as it would in ordinary hand use on 
the same class of work. It is not assumed that the paper 
will do this much more cutting under the same conditions, 
and with equal care in both cases, but including the waste 
of paper in hand use, which generally exceeds what is 
utilized. 

Every wood workshop, no matter what the business 
may be, if the work is to be painted or varnished, can use 
a set of buffing wheels to advantage. They do not cost 
much, occupy but little room, and can be run by the 
helpers at odd times when there is nothing else to do. It 
will not cost one cent 
a foot to buff lumber, 
and even fence pickets 
will look well enough 
to pay for the expense. 

To build a buffing 
machine, construct a 
frame about 4x6 feet 
outside dimensions, of 
framing from 4 to 5 
inches square, as shown 
in Figs. 55 and 56. 
Three wheels are 

better than two even if but two kinds of paper are re- 
quired ; the two wheels, with the same grade, if laid with 




140 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



the kind of paper used for general purposes, will be worn, 
as soon as the other, and it will save a large share 
of the time needed to renew the paper. The wheels 
should be from 30 to 40 inches in diameter, with a face 
of 8 to 10 inches ; they may be made entirely of wood, 
but an iron pulley with lagging is not only best but 
cheapest. The frame should be open on the front, Fig. 56, 
so as to allow of free access with crooked pieces, and be 
convenient for the operator. The shaft should be not less 
than 2 inches diameter, mounted as shown, to protect the 
bearings and loose pulleys, as much as possible, from the 
sand. 

Fig. 56. 




To prepare the wheels, procure pulleys of 30 to 36 
inches diameter with 8 inches face, the rims heavy and 
turned true inside and out, with two rows of screw-holes, 
drilled J inch from the edge, 2 inches apart, to receive 
1^-inch No. 16 wood screws ; the holes well countersunk 
on the inside. First put on a layer of lag pieces, either 
2 or 4 inches wide, to match the screw-holes, making the 
joints carefully, gluing and screwing each one as it is put 
on ; turn the wheel off true in its place on the machine, 




THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 141 

and put on a layer or two of felt or heavy cloth, to make 
a cushion for the paper ; next prepare a strip of strong 
canvas two inches wider than the face of the wheel, and 
long enough to go around it, or half around it, as the case 
may be, notch the edges, as at Fig, 57, so that they will 
lap over the ends of the pulley, 
to be fastened with tacks. After 
putting on the canvas, a good plan 
is to add a layer of plain manilla 
paper without sand, and after it 
dries, lay the sand-paper on the 
outside, using thick strong glue ; 

let the wheels dry thoroughly before using them, and 
when worn smooth, put a new layer on top of the former 
one, and continue until the wheel becomes uneven and 
irregular, then by drawing the tacks that hold the canvas, 
and cutting the paper across opposite the joint, the whole 
covering is stripped off, leaving the felt or cloth cushions 
intact. The canvas can then be placed in water until the 
sand-paper is soaked off, and again put on the wheel to 
begin another set of coverings. 

It should have been mentioned that the felt coverincr 
can be nailed on with small copper tacks, and that in 
applying the canvas, a strip of paper rubbed with beeswax 
laid under the joints in the canvas will prevent adhesion 
from any glue that may go through. 

The whole body of the machine frame may be encased 
to confine the dust, and exhausted by the induction fan, 
hoods being placed at the back of the wheels to gather 
the dust, as seen in Fig. 56. 

In building a machine of this kind it is well to add a 
common pulley at the end opposite the driving pulleys, to 
operate sand or wax belts, for polishing perforated work or 



142 the operator's handbook. 

such pieces as cannot be applied on the wheels ; this extra 
pulley and an idle pulley set on the floor, with a few 
canvas belts, comprises the arrangement, which is often 
of great convenience, especially in chair and cabinet work. 



JOBBING AND SHAPING MACHINES. 

The term shaping, as applied in wood manufacture, 
comprehends all work in irregular lines ; a better dis- 
tinction would be to call all operations shaping, when the 
stuff is fed by hand. This would include the many impro- 
vised plans of doing special work, that cost so little, and 
save so much, nearly all of which are performed by hand 
feed. 

Speaking of hand feed, it is apparent that in the great 
race for automatic machinery, wood manufacturers have 
gone far beyond the true limit in the use of power 
feed, and have applied power feed in many cases when 
the work could be fed to the cutters by hand, and 
advantages gained both in the quality and cost of the 
work. 

To feed lumber to cutters at a uniform speed, regard- 
less of the state of the edges, the grain of the wood, or 
knots, is a most unnatural plan, and can only be con- 
sidered as adapted to the coarser kinds of work ; besides, 
to secure the smoothest and best work, the wood should 
pass over the top of the cutter-heads, as in hand-feeding 
machines, and not beneath them. This last proposition 
would seem to be but a question of relative position 
between the cutter-head and the wood, but it is some- 
thing quite different. When material is passed over the 
cutters, the amount cut away is usually gauged from the 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 143 

side acted upon, and the machine becomes a surface 
planer instead of a parallel planer, as explained in an- 
other place. 

Hand feed, contrasted with power feed, must not there- 
fore be regarded as meaning two ways of performing the 
same thing, but as two classes of planing, involving 
different principles. This distinction is, however, not the 
most important one between a power-feeding and a hand- 
feeding machine. The main difference practically is that 
when arranged with feeding mechanism, a machine is 
adapted only to some standard kind of work, such as 
parallel planing, moulding, or grooving, will receive stuff 
only within certain dimensions, and must be set and ad- 
justed every time the dimensions of the lumber are 
changed. Besides, in such machines the feed is uniform, 
regardless of the varying amount that is cut away, the 
nature of the wood, or the starting, which should be done 
slowly. 

A machine that is arranged to be fed by hand is the 
opposite of all this ; it will receive stuff of any size, will 
cut away any amount of wood, because the feed can be 
graduated to suit, and is convertible into a general shaping 
and jobbing machine, applicable to almost anything within 
the whole range of wood cutting. 

There is nothing about wood manufacture that needs 
to be more carefully studied than this matter of machine 
adaptation ; a successful business is always marked by 
more or less original practice and an adaptation of means 
to ends, that we may class under a general head of ways 
and means of doing odd jobs. 

Ten years ago it was most unusual to find, a hand- 
feeding machine in an American wood shop; whenever 
the power-feeding machines failed to do what was re- 



144 the operator's handbook. 

quired, the next resort was hand labour; but of late 
years, from experience and necessity, there has been a 
return to first principles, by the use of hand-feeding 
machines for jobbing, and they are to be found at this 
time in most large establishments. 

A singular thing about their use, and one that argues 
how little the principles of wood cutting are studied, is 
that such machines have been sold mainly upon trial, and 
only bought after they had demonstrated their utility. 
Manufacturers had no confidence in a machine, the merit 
of which was predicated upon theoretical grounds, and 
appeared like a discarded thing of the past. 

One reason of this is to be found in the common im- 
pression that a hand-feeding machine requires a man's 
time to run it, and that a power-feeding machine does 
not, a mistake which is easily seen when considered ; in 
fact, in many cases, hand feed requires no more attention, 
and is the faster plan of the two, as bench sawing will 
serve to illustrate. 

Hand-feed machines have been mainly introduced under 
the name of universal machines, and a common impression 
exists that their value is due to a combination of several 
functions, such as planing, boring, and sawing; but a 
careful investigation of their use will prove their value to 
be in the adaptability gained by dispensing with the 
power-feeding mechanism. 

A planing, moulding, and general jobbing machine, 
arranged as in Fig. 58, with an overhung spindle to 
receive various cutter-heads, having a compound table in 
two parts with independent adjustment, is one of the 
most useful of hand-feed machines. The tables a, a are 
mounted on movable brackets, c, c, which are raised or 
lowered to suit the diameter of the cutter-heads, and the 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



145 



amount of wood to be cut away. The rear table is ad- 
justed to meet the face after it is planed, and varies from 



Fig. 58. 




the line of the front one, as the depth of the cut. The 
figure merely conveys an idea of the general functions 
of a machine which can be applied to a hundred uses, 
and will generally have something to do in the way of 
shaping, moulding, grooving, matching, raising panels, 
rebating, or other work. 

Such a machine corresponds very nearly to the original 
plans for wood-planing machines ; a machine for moulding 
and planing very nearly in this form was introduced in 
America in 1835, but soon gave way to power-feeding 
improvements, which were capable of performing all that 
was needed at that day, and when modern work demands 
hand-feed machines, it is hard to realize that we must go 
back to the discarded machines of forty years ago. 

Shaping machines, with two vertical spindles, have now 
become standard machines in American shops ; and we 
often hear the true remark that they " will do almost 
anything." When we come to consider why they have 



146 the operator's handbook. 

such a range of adaptation, it will be found substantially 
in the principles that have been already pointed out — 
hand fed, surface and gauging. 

This machine, although comprehended in the British 
patent of Bentham, 1793, and that of Boyd, 1822, was, 
like many others, a long time in being developed, which 
only proves that wood-machine improvement is not a ques- 
tion of ingenuity in machine making but a sequence of 
improvements in wood conversion. 

Whenever a process is invented by the wood-machine 
operators, we soon have machines to perform it, and there 
is no greater mistake than to ascribe the progress of wood 
manufacture to machine improvement ; it is just the oppo- 
site, machine progress comes almost entirely from im- 
provements in shop manipulation, and from the wood 
workmen themselves. This matter is mentioned with a 
view to directing the attention of operators to processes 
instead of machines ; they must invent plans of perform- 
ing work, after which it is easy to adapt machines to the 
purpose. In the case of the jobbing machine alluded to, 
for instance, if we have the premises or principles to begin 
with, and know what kind of work can be done in a special 
manner by a machine, it is then an easy matter to gene- 
rate the necessary mechanism. To illustrate this matter 
of processes further : if there is a set of lagging to make * 
for a drum or pulley ; in some shops it will be worked out 
by hand with cove planes, involving no little time and 
cost, besides making a poor job. In another shop, the 
lags or staves will be run across the top of a circular saw, 
and cut out true in a few minutes' time. This last is what 
is meant by expedients to facilitate and perfect machine 
work. A machine like the one shown at Fig. 58 is of 
very simple construction ; but an ingenious workman who 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 147 

understands its operation will soon prepare a set of guides, 
gauges, and stops to do all kinds of jobs, even to working 
curved lines ; and this outfit requires more ingenuity to 
invent than the machine proper. 

Since the introduction of emery wheels for grinding 
cutters, the objections to those of solid steel are overcome, 
and a solid steel cutter, hardened throughout, is sooner 
ground in this way, than an iron one steel laid ; and when 
it is considered that those of solid steel may be one-third 
thinner and yet as rigid, it becomes an argument in their 
favour. It is not recommended, however, that the extra 
thickness be omitted when they are made of solid steel, 
because shaping cutters are nearly always made too thin. 
When there is the least spring in them they are liable 
to break, snatch the piece from the workman, or, what 
is worse, take his hand into the cutters with it. 

When a number of these cutters are needed for shaping 
machines, and when they are held by angular grooves at 
the ends in the usual manner, it will be found a good plan 
to procure several bars of the best cast steel, {xl in., 
I X l|in., T 5 6- x l^in., y 5 e x If in.,f x 2 in., and | x 2^ in., 
in such proportion as the nature of the work may require ; 
cut these bars up into lengths of about 2 feet each, and 
send them to a machine shop to have their edges jointed 
and bevelled by a planing machine. This will cost but a 
trifle, and ensure the uniform width of the cutters, without 
which no machine can work well, as the spindle is bent to 
meet any variation of width between the cutters forming- 
pairs. 

The cutters can be cut from the bars, shaped and 
tempered as needed. If there is a very irregular outline 
to make, it saves time to drill holes, and break out a part 
of the steel in the deepest places, or it can be cut out 

l 2 



148 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



Fig. 59. 




1 



at a forge fire without deranging the shape of the cutter, 
if care is used. When there is much grinding and 
it is to be done on emery wheels, harden the cutter 
before it is ground ; but do not draw the temper until 
after it is shaped, it will then be clean and bright, to 
show the shades of temper. If solid steel cutters of any 
depth, say more than 3J inches, are used, it is best to 
slot them in the centre, and put a block between with 
clamping screws, as in Fig. 59. It may not be needed 
with ordinary work, but always where there 
is danger of splinters raising, or pieces pull- 
ing out, that may break solid steel cutters. 
It is safest in shaping to keep the 
material as much as possible between your 
person and the cutters. This is the natural 
position; but when fulcrum pins are em- 
ployed to hold the forms against the cutter- 
heads, the operator can in many cases be 
shielded behind the piece, or stand exposed 

UM iW| as he may choose. 

In arranging shaping machines, always 
drive them at as high a speed as the 
spindles and bearings will stand. The 
small diameter of the heads requires this to attain any- 
thing like a standard speed w T ith the cutting edges, 
besides, it ensures greater safety to the operator ; the 
weight and inertia of a piece will often prevent it from 
catching at a high speed, when it would be drawn in at 
a slow one. A set of spindles properly fitted should run 
at least 4500 revolutions a minute, which with heads 2J 
inches diameter gives a cutting movement of less than 
3000 feet a minute, much slower than with most other 
machines. 



K 



E 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 149 

The step-bearings for these machines should be as long 
and nearly as large in diameter as the top bearings, and 
arranged to be flooded with oil. Small tempered steel 
points will always give trouble, and have long ago, for all 
kinds of machinery, been abandoned by the best makers. 

Have no balance wheels on the spindles, they only add 
useless weight on the steps, which have enough to carry 
without them. The need for them on the spindles ot 
shaping machines is about the same as on the grindstone 
shaft, and they can be as well dispensed with in one case 
as the other. 

Set the countershaft 10 feet from the spindles when 
there is room, or if nearer have the pulleys on it smaller 
in proportion ; they should not in any case exceed five 
times the diameters of those on the spindles, unless set 
10 feet or more distant. 



MOKTISING. 



It was remarked of jig saws that they should only be 
used when no other machine could be employed for the 
work. It will not be far wrong, and for similar reasons, 
to say the same in reference to reciprocating mortising 
machines. 

In no other country except America have reciprocating 
machines been applied to all kinds of mortising, and there 
is nothing strange in the reaction we now see going on by 
the return to rotary machines for car building and other 
heavy work. It is hard to tell which deserves the greater 
credit, the ingenuity and care that has kept the recipro- 
cating machines in working order, or the forbearance that 
suffers their jar, rattle, and derangement. All recipro- 



150 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

eating machines, no matter what their character, if run at 
a high speed are open to serious objections — from wear, 
breaking, jar, and vibration — but when we add a kind 
of duty that consists in heavy blows, like mortising, it 
amounts to a culmination of these troubles, and explains 
why the mortiser in a wood shop is generally out of 
order and requires more repairs than all the rest of the 
machines. 

As before remarked, it is not our intention to treat of 
the principles of machine construction further than to give 
useful hints as to the care and operation of machines, 
but there is nothing that will teach the care and opera- 
tion of machines so well as to understand the principles 
and the general theory of their action. It must also 
be admitted that as engineers and machinists as a rule 
know but little of wood-working machines, improvements 
and changes must be suggested mainly by wood workmen 
themselves. 

We therefore suggest a thorough investigation of this 
mortising question to see whether the reciprocating mor- 
tising machine has not been applied to many kinds of 
w r ork which could have been as well or better done by 
rotary machines. All the mortising in France, and the 
greater part in England, is performed by rotary machines, 
that cut clean true mortises without vibration or noise, 
the question arises, suppose it takes a little longer to cut 
a mortise, it is but a small part of the operation in making 
up w 7 ork, there are no breakdowns to hinder and derange 
other things, the work is better done, the tools are not half 
so expensive, and finally is it not worth a great deal to get 
rid of the clashing and banging of a reciprocating machine, 
as a matter of order and comfort about the works ? But 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 151 

even this argument need not be used alone, for some car 
builders from careful statistics prove that rotary mortising 
machines effect a saving of time in the end, from the better 
facilities they afford in presenting and handling long or 
heavy lumber. 

There is perhaps no question about the claims of recipro- 
cating machines for light work, and for chisels to } in. 
wide, or for pieces that are not too heavy to be fed to the 
chisel. In these machines there is none of the very 
objectional mechanism needed for a chisel bar feed, and 
the machines are quite simple throughout. The recipro- 
cating parts can be light and the crank shaft can be 
placed in the base of the machine, to avoid overhead 
connections and prevent jar upon a building. 

Machines of this kind are suitable for joiner work, 
cabinet work, and the lighter kinds of mortising generally, 
except for chairs; all other mortising should be done on 
rotary machines. 

In making comparisons between reciprocating and 
rotary mortising machines we have to consider — first, the 
time required to perform the work ; second, the character 
of the work when clone ; third, the skill needed to perform 
it ; fourth, cost of tools and repairs of machinery, including 
detention by its derangement; or, briefly, time, quality, 
skill, and repairs. 

To first consider time, it must in the case of recipro- 
cating machines include the cleaning out of mortises after 
they are beat down, as it is termed, and unless the ope- 
rator is specially skilled in the proper form of chisels, 
this cleaning out often equals the mortising. With rotary 
machines the mortises are clear, but require in most cases 
squaring at the ends, a work hardly fair to balance against 



152 the operator's handbook. 

the cleaning out in the other case, for it requires less 
time and no more skill. If a mortise is made in soft wood 
and without boring, it will be made in less time on a high 
speed reciprocating machine, but if there has to be a hole 
bored for starting, the mortise will be soonest made by a 
rotary machine, which amounts practically to the former 
proposition, that small mortises in light work are soonest 
made by the reciprocating machines, and heavy work by 
rotary machines. Presuming that rotary machines had 
been as long and generally used in America as those with 
reciprocal motion, the test of time would perhaps be in 
their favour, taking the general range of work to judge 
from. 

The question of quality need hardly be considered, mor- 
tises made by either plan are good enough. 

In the matter of skill all is in favour of the rotary 
machine ; those with reciprocating motion need not only 
as much care and skill to keep up the cutting tools, but a 
great deal more to keep up the machines, which are with 
the best care usually out of order. They are besides 
laborious to work, not only in the exertion needed to 
feed, but the jarring communicated to the foot is dis- 
agreeable, and often injurious in heavy work. 

Of repairs, breakage, and detention, they are as the 
difference between reciprocating and rotary motion which 
expresses all that could be said. 

In the selection of machines and the arrangement of 
shops let this matter be carefully canvassed, and whenever 
there are any doubts as to the plan of mortising to be 
adopted decide in favour of rotary machines, for heavy 
work at least. They will not only perform the work, but 
do it well, and when not needed for mortising can be used 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 153 

for boring, recessing, gaining, or other work at times when 
a reciprocating machine would be idle. For the lighter 
class of work when a movable table machine can be used, 
the reciprocating machine is best, and will probably remain 
so, but whenever the work requires a machine with chisel 
bar feed, the case is different. Eotary machines are not 
used in America at this time, except a large size for car 
builders, but soon would be, if introduced, and many 
improvements be added in adapting them to general 
purposes. The length and position of the mortises being 
gauged by stops in the rotary mortising machine, it is 
possible that with some convenient system of gauges, no 
laying out would be needed on any kind of work. This 
is one of the advantages that has called the attention of 
car builders to these machines, and which is no small 
matter when we consider both the time and the mistakes 
saved ; a stop system is necessarily a check system at the 
same time, and prevents mistakes. Speaking of there 
being but few rotary mortising machines in use in this 
country, we must except what are generally called chair 
mortisers, a kind of rotary machine that deserves a more 
extended use than it has at this time. The rule has been 
to use these machines on round or crooked stuff which 
could not be held firm enough to withstand the blows of 
reciprocating machines ; they never fail to do all that is 
required, and do it well, without much repairing or at- 
tention. These machines are made in Ohio, and other 
places in the West, in a simple, compact form, and at a 
low price ; those made in New England for chair work are 
more complicated and slow to operate, having generally 
vertical spindles, cutting downward, so that the chips 
remain in the mortise, and in some cases the vibratory 



154 the operator's handbook. 

motion has to be stopped when pieces are put into the 
machine. The spindles of these machines should stand 
either horizontally or vertically beneath the work, and 
run at a speed of 6000 to 7500 revolutions a minute, 
the vibratory motion may be from 200 to 400 a minute ; 
the cutters or bits should be made from Stubbs' steel, 
drawn polished rods of the finest grade and used without 
tempering. The spindles should be bored deep enough 
to receive from 8 to 12 inches of the rods, so that there 
will be no waste except the wear, and that the cutter may 
be set out more or less, as the depth of the mortises may 
require. 

The bits should be held by a conical split thimble fitting 
into the end of the spindle; set screws are unfit for the 
purpose; they are often in the way when mortising on 
angles, and are liable to catch in the clothing. 

The chuck-end of a spindle is shown in section, Fig. 60, 

Fig. 60. 




a good device for any kind of rotary tools, where the 
torsional strain is not too great to be sustained by friction 
alone. 

The chisels for reciprocating mortise machines have 
much to do with their performance ; a chisel that is true 
and of a form that loosens the chips and throws the greater 
part of them out of the mortise, works easy, does not lift 
the piece on the up-stroke, or jar the machine. 

Chisels should be tapered slightly on their sides and 
backs, and the only plan to get them true is to plane or 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



155 



mill tliem from the shank after it is turned ; this is easily 
done, and is the cheapest plan after the chuck or holder 
has been prepared. 

Fig. 61 is a chuck for planing or milling these chisels, 
consisting of a revolving shell or holder, a, with a socket 

Fig. 61. 




to receive the chisel shank, and four stops, c. The base of 
the chuck is planed to the taper needed on the sides and 
back of the chisels, and arranged to fit on a planing or 
milling machine. To set the chisel the clamp-piece e is 
loosed, the chuck revolved one-fourth, and then again 
fastened. 

Mortising chisels should have a filing temper deep blue 
or tinged with violet colour, and be made of the best steel 
only. To sharpen them a thin emery wheel can be used 
for the throat instead of files, in which case, however, the 
temper should be no harder than described, or they will be 
liable to break. The jaws or ribs at the sides of the chisels 
are generally made too thin ; it is as well for all chisels 
more than § in. wide to have lips one-fourth the width 
of the chisel. Their purpose is to divide the chip into 
three parts and loosen it in the mortise, and the central 
part, or throat, aside from inconvenience of sharpening, 
need be no wider than the jaws themselves. 



156 THE operator's handbook. 

TENONING. 

Machines for cutting tenons are so well understood, and 
have been so little changed in a long time, that they are 
perhaps the most successfully built and operated of all 
wood machines. Those with a fixed table and the cutting 
movement given to the spindles are slowly coming into 
use for the heavier class of work, especially when the 
tenons are double. With this exception, the American 
tenoning machines have remained about the same for 
twenty years past. Improvements have been made in the 
cutters, the machines have been improved in strength and 
workmanship, and by the change from wood to iron fram- 
ing, the manner of adjusting the heads has also been im- 
proved and simplified ; but for light work an old machine 
is as good as a new one, which can be said of but few other 
machines. There are some things, notwithstanding these 
facts, that need improvement, which any experienced wood 
workman will appreciate when pointed out. The shoulders 
of the tenon, for instance, are squared from opposite sides 
of the piece by reversing it, when it is tenoned at both 
ends, and it must be both parallel and straight to bring 
true work ; it amounts to the same thing as using the try 
square on two different sides of a piece in scribing shoulders, 
which would not be thought of by a bench workman. For 
this we have the remedy of tenoning both ends at the same 
time, which not only evades this trouble of squaring the 
shoulders, but saves a great share of the time and labour. 
It also ensures accurate and uniform lengths between 
shoulders, a matter of no small importance in tenoning. 
This plan of tenoning both ends at one operation has gone 
into practice in Chicago, where it has met with great sue- 



157 

cess, and deserves to be generally adopted in door and 
sash work. 

Some of the joiners' shops in Sweden and Norway employ 
the same plan, and machines of this kind have been made 
in England. 

Another improvement is needed in the carriages. They 
are made to run on slides, and to move them backward 
and forward is the main labour in operating a tenoning 
machine ; it is not only hard work, but consumes time, and 
hinders the operator from holding the stuff, which is nearly 
all he can perform with his hands. The carriages should 
in all cases move on rollers, no matter how small the ma- 
chine ; it is of course more important for heavy work, and 
on the larger machines, but in any case it allows the 
operator to feel the action of the cutters more sensitively, 
and saves time. The argument has been in this matter, 
that a carriage, if mounted on rollers, could not be kept 
true and square. Without discussing the subject from a 
mechanical point of view, it is suggested that a maker who 
cannot produce a tenoning carriage to move true and 
square on rollers had better leave the work to be done by 
those who can. The old wooden carriages are so light, 
and slide so easily in doing light work, that they do very 
well without roller bearings ; but, as now made of iron, a 
carriage strong enough to stand the rough use to which 
it is subjected, is too heavy to move on slides. Carriages 
when mounted in this way start heavy and bring the wood 
in contact with the cutters in an abrupt manner that 
shivers the corners in starting. The pressure needed to 
move the carriage is so great that the cutting is not felt, 
and, as remarked before, the main work in operating is to 
move the carriage backward and forward. 



158 the operator's handbook. 

Tenoning cutters, with all others that act transversely to 
the grain, should be as thin, and stand at an angle as acute 
as possible. The tenons depend for accuracy upon the 
edges being straight and true, which requires precision 
in grinding and sharpening them, or rather in jointing 
them, which should be done when on the head at first, and 
then a gauge prepared that will indicate the true angle 
for the edges : most makers send out such gauges with 
their machines, but they nearly always need a readjust- 
ment by the operator, who can test them by careful 
experiments which the machinist has not facilities to do. 



WOOD TURNING. 

The ' Turners' Companion,' with other treatises on the 
subject, generally relate to fancy engine turning for orna- 
mentation, and are intended mainly for amateurs, or at 
least do not apply to what is needed in a wood- working 
establishment. 

What is said here will therefore be directed to other 
matters that are of more interest to the practical workman, 
and while there may not be much said that is new, it will 
it is hoped contain suggestions that will be of use. 

Turning is an extensive and important branch of wood 
work, one that has to be performed in nearly all wood 
shops, and, more or less, on all kinds of work. Every 
wood workman should learn plain hand turning ; not 
elaborate pieces, but such things as are met with in gene- 
ral wood work. In joinery, circular work such as circle 
top frames, round corners, and columns, have to be turned. 
In cabinet work, although turning is not so great a share 
as in former times, it is yet a large part of the whole. 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 159 

Pattern makers learn to turn from necessity, and the 
time spent in this way is more than compensated in the 
aid it gives in learning bench work. 

The art of turning in wood and ivory has always been 
considered an amusement, and there is nothing in the whole 
range of industrial processes more fascinating than to shape 
pieces in a lathe ; some of the pleasure is to be ascribed to 
the fact that turning is performed without much exertion, 
and consists rather in directing the tools than propelling 
them ; yet the rapid change of form that is made at will, 
and the nice skill needed in some of the finer varieties of 
work, makes it a most agreeable labour, even to those 
who are continually engaged at it. The hand lathe is 
chief among turning machines ; for centuries it was ap- 
plied to all manner of turning in both wood and iron, with- 
out any attempt to guide or direct the cutting tools by 
mechanism, but of late years, from a turning lathe we have 
changed to turning " machinery," and so many auxiliaries 
have been added, that the lathe can now be considered but 
little more than a device to rotate the piece. In wood 
turning, all the coarser kinds, and even fine work when 
there are many pieces of one kind to be made, are machine 
turned. Nothing connected with wood cutting has been 
followed more persistently than automatic turniug, and 
nothing has met with more failure. A strange fact run- 
ning through all experiments made thus far, is that they 
have been successful or unsuccessful as they have cor- 
responded to the action of hand tools. Except in America 
but little has been attempted in automatic turning machi- 
nery ; in the older countries labour is too cheap, and less 
turning in wood is done. 

Hand lathes for wood turning require to be made with 
more care in some respects than any machine used in 



160 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

wood work ; they should run true and steady, as a matter 
of convenience, and of necessity as well, for no turner 
can do good work on a bad lathe, or one that is not 
in order. The cones should be of cherry or mahogany, 
the wood thoroughly seasoned, and laid up so that the 
joints will run true. Nothing looks worse, nor more un- 
workmanlike, than to have the joints in a set of lathe cones 
to run in a zigzag course ; besides, it is just as easy to 
have them true, by planing up and sawing out the different 
layers, and then gluing them up on the spindle, using the 
small cone, which should be of iron, and screwed on the 
spindle, to clamp them. The cones should be for a com- 
mon hand lathe five in number, rising from 4 to 12 inches 
diameter. The spindle should have long bearings of hard 
brass at each end. There is something strange in the fact 
that while bearings for other spindles are made from three 
to four diameters in length, lathe bearings are as a rule 
but half as long ; and still more strange that lathe spindles 
should have a small point bearing at the end any more 
than the spindles of other machines. The end thrust is 
great, it is true, and must be resisted, but in other cases 
a little point would not be thought of ; a series of shallow 
collars has been determined in engineering practice gene- 
rally, as the best means of resisting end thrusts, and why 
not in a lathe ? 

Without going into construction of lathes any further 
than to offer suggestions to those who purchase and use 
them, we will say, that if turners would note the weak 
points and faults in hand lathes, and dictate their con- 
struction in such particulars as need improvement, we 
should soon have them more perfect. 

The shear, or lathe frame, which is seldom furnished 
with the lathe, can be made of wood, and is for some pur- 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 161 

poses better than if made of iron. An iron shear is cold 
in winter, generally too narrow on top, and injures the 
tools, which are sure to come in contact with it. For 
pattern work, and the heaviest kind of wood turning, an 
iron shear is for some reasons best, because of keeping the 
heads in line, and the weight preventing vibration from 
pieces that are out of balance. 

A wooden shear should be made of dry pine, the sides 
not less than 5 x 10 inches — 6 x 12 is better — the top 
covered with an inch board of ash or oak, fastened with 
wood screws, so that it can be taken off and replaced when 
worn ; this preserves the shear frame, and makes a hard 
surface for the heads to slide upon. Lathe shears should 
in setting be braced, or blocked and bolted, to a wall 
whenever practicable, especially when there is more than 
one lathe to stand on a single frame, otherwise one lathe 
will disturb another in starting rough stuff that is out of 
balance. 

A wood turner needs a good and complete set of tools. 
It is not pretended that there is anything new in the sug- 
gestion, but there never was one more needed ; there is 
no accounting for the want and the imperfection of tools 
that can be seen with nine out of every ten wood lathes 
in use. A. man may at bench work manage to get along 
without tools of the best temper, or those properly ground, 
but no one can turn with satisfaction, or with success, 
without both, because turning depends upon a sharp keen 
edge, and in most cases a true bevel, which forms a rest 
for the edge of the tools. The finest steel only will hold an 
edge, and even then not on all kinds of wood, so that scrap- 
ing tools have to be resorted to. Except for light work, the 
scraping tools — cutting off, or square tools — and nearly all 
except flat chisels and gouges, can be made from bars of 

M 



162 the operator's handbook. 

steel, and used without wooden handles ; if made from J-in. 
or f-in. square bar, and the sharp corners ground off, they 
are convenient for pattern turning at least, and much 
safer than with detachable handles. Tools made in this 
way should be longer than handled tools ; for pattern 
turning they may be from 16 to 20 inches long without 
inconvenience. For all kinds of light turning, those with 
handles are of course more convenient. 

Tool handles and other fancy articles should be polished 
in the lathe before taking them out, by first putting on a 
light coat of linseed oil with a brush, and then using 
shellac varnish, applied with a woollen rubber, made by 
doubling heavy cloth to make two to four thicknesses, 
and, when doubled, about 3 inches square. Apply the 
varnish to the cloth, then hold it on the work, pressing 
hard enough to heat and dry it ; the varnish must be thick, 
and the operation, to be successful, done rapidly. 

It may be said that polished work, tool handles, for 
instance, cannot be performed by automatic lathes ; such 
work cannot be made smooth enough to receive the polish, 
and the polishing if required would have to be at any rate 
a second and independent process. 

No rules of much value can be given to aid a beginner 
in learning to turn, for turning is an operation consisting 
almost entirely in hand skill. One thing, however, may 
be suggested — cut, instead of scrape, with the tools. The 
beginner at once discovers that his tools will not catch 
when scraping or dragging on the wood and adopts scraping 
from a sense of danger ; he may at the same time discover 
that if used in this way the edges of the tools are at once 
destroyed, but little is accomplished, and the surfaces 
produced are very rough. 

Machine or automatic lathes, as they may be called. 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 163 

consist of four classes ; — First, gauge lathes, with a slide 
rest and tool carriage, after the manner of an engine lathe, 
for metal working. Second, lathes with rotary cutting 
tools, that have a compound motion of the wood and the 
cutters, both revolving. Third, excentric lathes for turn- 
ing elliptical or other irregular forms. Fourth, chuck 
lathes, hollow mandrils, or rod machines. 

The gauge lathe was invented by Bentham, described 
in his patent of 1793, and has possibly, under some 
modification, been in use ever since. What is known 
as the Alcott slide, to be used in connection with an ordi- 
nary hand lathe, is but a modification of this machine. 
The principle of operation consists in a following rest, in 
front of which is a roughing gouge, to reduce the piece so 
that it will fit the rest ; behind this rest other tools follow, 
one to three in- number, as the work may require, the 
rest supporting the piece. The following or finishing tools 
are generally mounted upon pivoted falls, which slide on 
patterns, that raise and lower the cutters to give the 
required shape to the piece. This produces duplicate 
pieces very rapidly, but if the profile is in any degree 
irregular the work is too rough for any but the rougher 
uses. By tumbling the pieces in a cylinder with leather 
scrap, after they are thoroughly dried they can be made 
smooth enough for painted work, but not to varnish or 
polish. Gauge lathes have been helped out of this diffi- 
culty of making rough work by shearing knives, that 
come down diagonally behind, and follow the rest, cutting 
off a light shaving with a thin tangental edge, correspond- 
ing to the action of a hand chisel that leaves the piece 
true and smooth. This device has been extensively and 
successfully used, and manufacturers need have no fear in 
adopting it for any work to which it can be applied. 

m 2 



164 the operator's handbook. 

If a gauge lathe is to be used, have a good one. It was 
a long time being discovered that a gauge lathe for wood 
turning required to be as accurately, and even more care- 
fully made, than an engine lathe for machine fitting. Such 
lathes require to be made in the most thorough manner, 
and will cost a large price from any responsible maker. 
If the amount and character of the work does not justify 
the outlay for a first-class gauge lathe, it is better to do 
the work by hand, or with an Alcott slide, than to buy a 
cheap one. 

The spindle bearings of gauge lathes should be made of 
the hardest brass, set into accurately planed seats, so that 
they may be adjusted or renewed without trouble. Centres 
project 6 to 10 inches from the ends of the spindles, have 
sharp points, and the head and tail points must come 
together precisely, and keep there, that is, the lathe must 
keep in line ; this must be the test of a gauge lathe, and 
is one that would condemn nine-tenths of all the engine 
lathes in use. 

Of second class, of lathes w r ith rotary tools are but 
little used ; the cutters and the wood both running in 
circles, and cutting intermittently, make rough work ; it 
is difficult enough to produce smooth surfaces with either 
the wood tangental to the cutters, or the cutters tangental 
to the w r ood, without having two circles to meet. There 
has been a limited use of these lathes for turning hubs 
and other coarse work, but nothing to merit a further 
notice here. We suggest to wood manufacturers that 
whenever they find this compound rotary motion of both 
the tools and the piece in a machine to do cylindrical 
turning, to buy some other ; it is a subversion of the true 
principles of wood cutting, and as such should be em- 
ployed only when it is unavoidable. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 165 

Excentric lathes for oval turning are among those 
machines which require special knowledge to manage. 
The Blanchard lathe, if driven at its utmost speed, may- 
turn from five to seven hundred, small spokes a day, the 
surface so rough that the grinding and polishing becomes 
a more important matter than the turning. We do not 
want to find fault with a machine so long and so success- 
fully used as the Blanchard lathe, but will suggest that 
if instead of turning six hundred spokes on one machine, 
the same man were to turn three hundred each, on two 
machines, and turn them smooth, a great gain would be 
made. The investment in machinery would be something 
more, but this is a small matter, to be rated as the interest 
on the money, and is balanced by a small daily gain in 
either the quantity or quality of the work performed. 
What we contend for is, that these excentric lathes should 
be better made, do their work more smoothly, and if neces- 
sary keep up the quantity turned by increasing the number 
of machines. In excentric turning the rough character of 
the work is due in a great measure to the cutting being 
done across the grain, and to the very inferior quality of 
the cutters used; these are, as a rule, made from saw- 
plate steel, tempered to a blue only, so as to be filed, and 
the edges break or bend as soon as they touch any bark 
or grit. The plan of filing answers for rough work, and 
plate-steel is good enough for cutters, but it should be of 
the finest quality, carefully tempered, and the inside 
which forms the edge polished. 

The best lathes for excentric turning are those which 
have the reciprocating movement in the cutter-head, a 
principle which is followed in all cases except for spoke 
turning, and in what is called the Handle Lathe. The 
fact is that no durable and substantial machine can be 



166 the operator's handbook. 

made that has its spindles and driving gearing vibrating 
on a swing frame. The lathes used for turning gun 
stocks in the armories are the best in use, and are in all 
cases made with the spindles to run in fixed supports. 
Spoke-turning machines that have their cutters arranged 
to act lengthwise the piece, parallel to the fibre, do 
smoother work, and admit of several pieces being worked 
at the same time. This plan is one employed in machines 
of foreign manufacture, and has certainly been successful 
enough to prevent the introduction of the Blanchard lathe 
in Europe. It is therefore suggested to manufacturers 
that in fitting up new works, or in increasing old ones, 
that this subject of elliptical turning be more carefully 
considered, and investigations made as to the relative cost 
of grinding and polishing, compared with the turning, also 
the cost of turning by different machines. 

The cost of turning is the wages paid for operating the 
machine, with its wear and repairs added ; for polishing, 
it is the cost of the labour, the wear of belts, cost of glue, 
sand, and the time of laying the belts. A little gained by 
fast turning may be easily lost in finishing, and it is quite 
unfair to rate the capacity of a machine by the number of 
pieces that may be turned out, regardless of the manner 
in which it is done. 

With handle lathes the cutting is generally done in 
saws, which stand the bark better than cutters, and do 
not spring the piece so much. A cutter-head with six or 
eight cutters to do the same amount of work as a saw that 
has from 24 to 32 teeth, must displace four times as much 
wood at each cut, and the shock and strain upon the piece 
is nearly in the same proportion. The straighter kinds 
of handles, such as sledge, pick, hammer, and hatchet 
handles, can be turned much faster with cutters than with 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



167 



saws, because of the edges being broader, and the feed 
proportionately faster; but axe handles, or any handle 
that has short turns or angles, can be best turned with 
saws. The true plan is to have each lathe supplied with 
both saws and cutter-heads, so that they can be changed 
to suit the kind of work being done. 

Chuck turning relates to parallel rods like dowel pins, 
chair braces,, or fence pickets. As machines, chuck lathes 
are simple, efficient and labour-saving, cost but little, and 
should be used whenever there is anything for them to 
do. The principle of their operation is the same as the 
hand gauging tool shown at Fig. 62, a little device that 
should be among the tools on every hand lathe. 

Fig. 62. 




This gauge tool is used in turning any kind of parallel 
stuff, dowel pins, wooden screws, gauge stems, in fact any- 
thing that is in whole or in part straight. Cabinet turning, 
such as nulling, cottage spindles, or other pieces that are 
turned straight before being moulded, can be sized much 
quicker and more accurately with a gauge tool than with 
chisels. 



168 the operator's handbook. 

The tools are made of cast iron, are inexpensive, and 
easy to operate. One stirrup and cutter will do for several 
sizes by exchanging. The only fitting in making gauge 
tools is to bore them to the size wanted and cut away 
the throat. In usiug them the handle runs on the rest, 
and should be held down firmly ; some of the first experi- 
ments may be failures, until there is some skill acquired 
in setting the cutter. The tool will either go perfectly 
straight, which is its natural and most easy course, or it 
will not go at all. Although but little known they have 
been in successful use for years, and are especially needed 
in turning the stems of wooden screws, and other pieces 
that have to be accurate. 



PATENTS ON WOOD MACHINES. 

It is thought that, among other things, a short article 
on the subject of inventions and patents would not only 
be of interest, but probably of use. All engaged in wood 
manufacture — proprietors, managers, and workmen — are 
at some time either afflicted with a patent mania them- 
selves, or brought in contact with it in others, and the 
little that has been written or is known of the history of 
wood machinery, together with its recent rapid develop- 
ment, has been not only favourable to invention, but also 
to deception and mistakes. If anyone before investing 
in, or becoming interested in, inventions, or in applying 
for patents on wood- working machinery, would look over 
the statistics of the past, and see how little has been 
derived from invention, or even from the monopoly of 
manufacture, by patents on wood machines, he would need 
no other caution to deter him from what will, in nine cases 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 169 

out of ten, result in a loss of time and money. Even in 
the case of the few master patents, on principles, we use 
the word advisedly, such as Woodworth's patent on planers, 
or Blanchard's patent on excentric lathes, but little, if any- 
thing, has been gained to the patentees. The greater 
share of the revenue was consumed in litigation, to defend 
against infringement, a consequence that is natural, and 
will always occur in any attempt to monopolize the 
manufacture of a machine after it becomes popular. There 
is something about public sentiment in the United States 
that rebels against patent monopoly and favours attempts 
to evade patents, which renders it difficult to introduce 
patents, and still more difficult to defend them against 
infringement if they are really useful. 

Leaving out the considerations already named, which 
ought to be quite enough to save at least the greater 
share of what is each year lost in wood machinery 
patents, there is one other too often lost sight of, the 
difficulty and expense of ascertaining the novelty of im- 
provements. Foreign patents or foreign practice become 
legal evidence against the novelty of inventions in our 
courts, and it is only in late years that we have had facili- 
ties for acquiring and using such evidence or acquainting 
ourselves with what exists and what has been done abroad. 
Our Patent Office, with all the good features of its system, 
and the examination it gives to cases, does not dare to 
give any validity to a patent, or to confer a single right 
that is indefeasible or not conditional ; it simply gives 
the inventor power to prosecute others for infringement, 
and actual damages on condition of being the true and 
original inventor, as against his opponent and everyone 
else. The writer has spent no little time and money in 
securing patents on wood-cutting machines, most of which 



170 THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 

he has found to be anticipated by other and older in- 
ventors, and without having in any case realized as much 
as the same amount of effort would have earned if it had 
been applied to other business. 

What it is intended to notice here, is not so much the 
policy of patenting improvements, as the founding of busi- 
ness schemes with patent monopoly as a base, or con- 
stituting a part of the capital. Any failure of a manu- 
facturing business is felt far and wide, both as a loss 
of capital and an injury to the reputation of the branch of 
work to which it belongs ; and in establishing a business, 
as in building a house, there is required a good founda- 
tion, which in manufacturing should be a demand and 
market for the product, skill to produce it at as low or a 
lower cost than others, and capital to do the business upon. 

The estimates of a market should be based upon a care- 
ful review of existing facts and probable future changes, 
how far the articles to be made are a luxury or a staple of 
necessity, and how others have or are succeeding in the 
same line. 

In the matter of skill, depend upon mechanical ability, 
experience, shop system, and good manipulation ; if patents 
are to be a consideration, balance them against some other 
intangible consideration, but not against money, credit, 
machines, or material. If a patent earns anything, it is 
easy to set it off to a separate account, but never safe to 
use the money until it is earned, which is done when a 
patent represents manufacturing capital. 

In the matter of capital, no matter what the amount, 
let it consist in cash or actual assets ; there was a time in 
wood manufacturing when it was comparatively safe to 
borrow money for one or two years and invest it in lumber 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 171 

aud machines, but that time has gone by ; competition is 
now so great, and our establishments have grown so large, 
that the manufacturer with a small or a borrowed capital 
has but little chance against the one who has a large 
capital and owns it. In making special and new articles 
of manufacture, or in districts not connected with our 
great cities by rail or water communication, or when the 
business is carried on to meet a local demand, these rules 
may not apply : they are safe premises, however, to reason 
from in starting a new business. 



PUKCHASING MACHINEKY. 

There is no knowledge more important to a wood 
manufacturer than what kind of machines he should 
purchase to be used in his business. 

Operators generally understand the subject better than 
proprietors, and machines are usually bought upon their 
judgment and advice ; only so far, however, as a choice 
between the machines of different makers, for it is very 
seldom that they can get just what is wanted, no matter 
how well they may understand what is needed for the 
work. 

Wood machines are made in America at this time 
like boots and shoes, or shovels and hatchets. You do 
not, as in most other countries, prepare a specification of 
what you want, as to capacity, belt power, adjustments, 
and so on, but must take what is made for the general 
market. That this is not right need not be argued, and 
that it is as much the fault of the purchaser as it is of 
the maker is also true. 



172 THE operator's handbook. 

Purchasers are too apt to barter and beat down the 
price to the lowest point, and then go to another maker to 
see if he will furnish machines for less, just as though it 
was a circular saw, a roll of belting, or a barrel of oil that 
was wanted. This not only degrades the business of 
machine manufacturing, and provokes competition and 
bad work, but it leads to a state of affairs that allows 
almost anyone to engage in machine making without the 
engineering knowledge and skill that is needed. 

This is not the way to construct and sell machines that 
will earn the most money. They should, whenever prac- 
ticable, be specially adapted to the work to be performed, 
by makers who not only understand the nature of the work, 
and the principles of machines, but have proper facilities 
for designing and modifying them, without enhancing their 
cost. In most cases a man who is to run a machine upon 
some special work knows how it should be made and 
arranged for that work, and he should have it arranged 
accordingly. If a machinist applied to has not the skill 
or the engineering knowledge to modify the machine, go 
to one who has such knowledge, and the chances are that 
what is saved at such a shop by skill and system will fully 
make up for the extra cost of the changes needed. This 
commercial system of machine manufacture has, among 
other troubles, led to a kind of conditional sale system ; 
machines are bought, and what is stranger, furnished, 
on trial. The purchaser is afraid to trust his own judg- 
ment, the maker is not to be depended upon, the manager 
or the operators have no choice except between the stereo- 
type machines in the market, and the builder is allowed 
to send a machine on trial, or rather, to send one with 
a guarantee of its working. 

The way to reform this, which all must admit as a 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 173 

wrong system, is for the machine operators to educate 
themselves in the principles of constructing as well as 
operating wood machinery ; to study the theory of the 
action of cutting edges, the proportion and composition 
of bearings, the diameter and length of spindles, the 
size of pulleys and width of belts, speeds, and everything 
pertaining to wood manufacture. 

They must not depend upon machinists, who as a rule 
know nothing of wood work, to do this. It is altogether 
a different thing from making lathes and planer drills 
for metal work; tools which machinists understand and 
continually use in their own business. Wood machines 
are not only peculiar and difficult to build, but are also 
peculiar to operate. A machinist is expected to run a 
lathe or planer, to drill, or do vice work, but on the con- 
trary it is only a few wood workmen who can run the 
different machines found in a wood shop, so that it is 
unreasonable to expect a machinist, without specifications, 
to fill an order satisfactorily for a machine which even the 
operator may not understand. 

In ordering machines, therefore, take time to investigate 
their adaptation to what you want to do ; if the work is 
of a regular character the public reputation of a machine 
may be trusted, but it is due to the dignity of any shop to 
at least attempt to improve their manipulation by modi- 
fying machines whenever useful improvement suggests 
itself. In the matter of shafting, belts, and steam power, 
we have already offered suggestions to aid in their selec- 
tion. 



174 the operator's handbook. 



SUPPLYING MATEKIAL. 



"A penny saved is a penny earned," is a maxim as 
old as it is true; applied to the purchase of lumber and 
wood supply for an establishment it means that a dollar 
saved in the maimer of supplying material, can be added 
to the profits account. 

As to purchasing sawed lumber, it is only a commercial 
question of quality and value, but other plans of procuring 
material, without its passing through what is called the 
lumber market, are open to some suggestions for those 
who are within reach of timber. 

A great many, in manufacturing articles from wood, 
never think of anything but to purchase sawed lumber 
and recut it, often into small pieces, when they had just 
as well cut their stuff from round timber, saving thereby 
a great share of the cost, and at the same time securing 
better material. As a rule, 200 feet of lumber will cost 
as much as one cord of timber; a cord of timber, 128 
cubic feet, is as a solid equal to something over 1500 
feet of sawed stuff board measure ; allowing one-half for 
saw-kerf and waste, it would make when sawed 766 feet 
of lumber. A good sawyer, with an efficient machine, will 
cut up four cords of logs 8 feet long into framing pieces or 
turning stuff in a day ; the waste, after furnishing fuel to 
drive the saw, is generally worth enough to pay for the 
sawing, and something over; as one-half is allowed for 
waste it should certainly make a cord of firewood, worth 
as much as a cord of round timber. 

This would give 766 feet of prepared stuff at the same 
price that would have been paid for 200 feet of lumber, 
with the difference that what has been cut from timber 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 175 

is cut to dimensions, while the other would be in planks 
or boards^ and subject to a much greater waste in re- 
working than the stuff sawed by hand. 

Leaving all nice calculations out, we may safely assume 
that when a cord of round or split timber costs as much 
as 200 feet of lumber, the stuff saved from the timber 
will, when cut out, not cost more than one-half as much 
as an equal quantity of merchantable lumber, and that if 
any considerable part of the lumber used in a manufac- 
turing establishment could be produced in this way, it 
alone would make a large profit. 

As to the question of quality, or worth, which is the 
same thing ; timber that is cut to be sold by the cord 
is usually of smaller size and a younger growth than what 
is taken for saw-mill logs, and is for that reason sounder 
and brighter than the older growth. If it is split before 
sawing it must be reasonably straight grained, and is 
sawed nearly with the grain ; being in short lengths of 
8 feet or less, the lumber in any case is much straighter 
in grain than if it had been cut at a regular lumber mill, 
where the logs would have been twice as long. In other 
words, the lumber from a crooked tree is straight or cross 
grained as the lengths into which it is cross-cut before 
slitting. 

It might be said in reference to this system, that round 
timber cannot be obtained; however, there are but few 
places in the United States, except in large cities, or the 
prairie countries, where such timber cannot be procured, 
by simply letting its want be known. The farmers during 
the winter are glad to haul in, or deliver such stuff on the 
railways, canals, or rivers, and only too glad to avoid the 
saw-log business, which is by no means a favourite one. 
Many of the largest wood manufacturing establishments 



176 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK. 



have already adopted this system, so far as they can, and 
have continued it successfully for years ; it is not expected, 
of course, that we are giving them information, but a 
great many never think of it. 

Fig. 64. 





For this kind of sawing there 
is needed a saw framed and 
arranged as in Figs. 63 and 
64, the general dimensions as 
follows ; — 

Length of main frame, 14 feet. 
Height of main frame, 24 inches. 
Length of running board or table, 

13 feet. 
Length of bearing rails, 16 feet. 
Diameter of saw, 36 to 40 inches. 
Diameter of mandril, 2| inches. 
Length of mandril, 42 inches. 
Size of pulley, 12 inches diameter, 

8 inches face. 
Speed of the saw, 1200 revolutions per 

minute. 
Power required from 10 H.P. 

The table is merely a hard 
wood board, interposed between 
the timber and the rollers, split 
throughout its length, but held 
together by the cross cleats on 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 177 

the ends; the angle irons seen on the end view, at a, are used 
to gauge the stuff; other plans can be used, which may be 
more convenient; one is to have swinging gauges fixed 
to the main frame outside the moving table, so that they 
will swing round out of the way when the timber is moved ; 
another is to have lines scored on the table, indicating 
inches or smaller divisions if needed. In sizing stuff that 
is to be squared after it is cut into deals, a number of 
pieces can be piled on top of each other and cut at one 
time to save time and walking. Six cords of timber have 
been cut into pieces for hoe handles, rake handles, and 
general turning lumber, in a day, on one of these saws. 

Table legs, bedstead and chair stuff, with the greater 
share of the lumber used in furniture manufacture, can be 
prepared in this way, either to size, or in deals to be recut 
after seasoning. 



HINTS ON BENCH WORK. 

It requires some temerity to write about bench opera- 
tions in wood work ; a hand art almost as old as the world, 
or at least as old as civilization, ought by this time to be 
perfect, and it would, no doubt, have been perfected long 
ago, so far as hand skill is concerned, if it were not con- 
tinually modified by the influence of machines, so that 
bench work, like other things, must progress and improve. 

If a reason was wanting, there is another which would 
serve for the introduction of this article — it will instruct 
apprentices. In most trades there are inferior branches 
with which an apprentice may begin, and then become 
gradually skilled in his art by changing to those more 
difficult as he learns, but this is hardly true of bench work 



178 the operator's handbook. 

in wood manufacture. An apprentice may clean the 
shop, rip out stuff, sand-paper, and knock about at the 
beginning, but as soon as he goes to the bench he has at 
once to begin some of the most difficult things that he will 
ever have to perform, which are to dress up stuff, make 
joints, and keep a set of planes in order. It is therefore 
expected that this part of the book will not be without 
its use, although somewhat disconnected from the general 
subject of wood-machine operation. 



BENCHES FOE WOOD WOEK. 



Long custom has established certain forms of benches 
for different kinds of wood work, and while almost any kind 
of wood work may be done on almost any kind of bench, 
there are in this, as in most old customs, some good reasons 
at the bottom. The cabinet maker wants a tail-screw, 
the carriage maker a standing or high vice, and the pattern 
maker the back tray, while the carpenter does not care 
much what his bench may be, so long as it is long and 
wide. 

Since the general introduction of machinery to do the 
planing, benches have been made higher than when work 
was done by hand, an improvement that prevents stooping. 
Thirty-two inches high was once a limit, but now benches 
36 inches high are often more convenient than if lower. 
In any case they should be as high as possible. 

The main part of a bench is the top, and next the vice. 
For carriage work the vice is the main part; there is, 
however, no harm in having both as good as can be. The 
tops should never be made of a whole plank ; they are 
much better if made of scantling, bored at intervals of 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 179 

1 2 inches for dowels, and the whole drawn together with 
f-inch bolts. One of the bolts can pass through the 
standing leg of the vice, which should always be gained 
into and come flush with the top of the bench, and not 
mortised into the under side, in this way it generally 
splits the top ; besides, the top will not stand the wear 
opposite the vice jaw. When a tail-screw is to be used 
the top cannot well be made throughout of scantling ; a 
wider piece will be needed on the front side, to frame the 
tail-vice in, but it should be as narrow as possible, and 
the rest of the top in pieces. Always make benches large 
enough, the constant tendency is to have them too small, 
especially with cabinet makers, who often own their 
benches, and move them like a tool chest to wherever 
they are engaged ; this has no doubt been a reason for 
the small size that cabinet makers' benches are generally 
made. A tray at the back is the common plan, and at 
the risk of violating the maxim laid down at the beginning 
about old custom, we must say it is wrong. No one wants 
to hunt small tools out of a tray ; it is never deep 
enough for the stuff on the bench to clear plane 
handles, is always full of dirt and shavings', and at best 
can be considered as nothing more than a plan to save 
width. If the stuff being worked is wide enough to cover 
a tray, the tray is of no use ; if it is not, there is still 
no need of the tray, six inches more of width added to 
the top will be found more convenient for any kind of 
work, from carving to wagon making. A flush top is 
easier kept clean and clear, but if it must be divided into 
a working top and a tool compartment, raise the tool plat- 
form above the bench, either by laying on a pine board 
8 inches wide, or, if the bench is less than 30 inches wide, 
raise this board up 6 inches from the bench, like a shelf, 

n 2 



180 THE OPERATOR'S HAND300K. 

leaving room so that planes will go under it, or, what is 
better, leave a place clear at the front for planes. This 
will be found more convenient for small tools, and more 
orderly than a tray. A cabinet bench, to be convenient, 
should not be less than 30 inches wide, and 8 feet long, 
the centre of the main vice 20 inches from the end, the 
top 3 J to 4 inches thick for the whole of its width, for it 
nearly always costs more to fit up a backboard than the 
extra lumber is worth, if the tops are made of uniform 
thickness throughout: these sizes are nearly twice as 
large as such benches are usually made. The amount 
that a man may earn on a bench does not often lead to 
affluence, even when all conditions are favourable, and 
to render this amount as large as possible, after •skill, 
the next most important thing is order and good tools, 
neither of which can be had without bench room. 

A vice jaw for wood work, except wagon and carriage 
making, should be from 8 to 10 inches wide, 3 to 3 J inches 
thick, of seasoned hard wood, set at a sufficient angle to 
prevent it from twisting when long pieces are set in verti- 
cally. The standing leg should be the same size, and, as 
before said, gained into the top depth, not full depth, but 
from 1J to 2 in. 

Benches for pattern making require to be wider, longer, 
and higher. A good plan for pattern benches is to make 
them continuous along one or more sides of the building. 
The tops need not be more than 3 inches thick : if covered 
with pine, it prevents bruising the work, and is easier to 
true up. Such benches should be 32 to 34 inches high, 34 
inches wide, and if in sections, at least 10 feet long. The 
vice should be strong, of the same proportions before given. 
The screw will be more convenient if of a coarse pitch, so 
as to act quickly. The square thread screws, coming into 



THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 181 

use, are well adapted to pattern makers, vices, or for any 
work that requires much use of the vice. Always have 
the screw and slide bar arranged so that the vice can be 
drawn out or closed up to any distance, without helping 
the bottom along with the hands; this can be done by 
putting a bearing over the top of the screw inside the nut 
behind the standing leg, and by having a well-fitting collar 
key, and also a good running bar at the bottom. It is 
better to spend a little time in fitting a vice properly, 
than to stoop or sit down to pull out the vice jaw at the 
bottom each time it is changed for different sizes of stuff. 

Wagon and carriage makers mainly use parallel iron 
vices, which are so much better for the purpose that there 
is no need of describing how wooden vices should be made. 



BENCH TOOLS FOR WOOD WORK. 

It was remarked in the Introduction that we sometimes 
see a man without much physical strength, and apparently 
without exertion, do more work than a strong one who 
labours harder. No fact is better known to wood work- 
men than this, but the lesson it teaches is generally 
neglected, and the matter regarded as a kind of mysterious 
dispensation, over which there is no control. There is no 
greater mistake ; workmen may have peculiar faculties 
mentally that enable them to succeed better than others 
when their work is very diversified and intricate, but so 
far as bench work is concerned, nearly all the difference 
can be traced to the tools used ; a fast workman generally 
has plenty of them, kept in order, and in the right place. 
Hand skill is of course requisite, but hand skill is a 
result of good tools, and the same spirit that promotes 



182 the operator's handbook. 

order ensures speed. A man may do good work witn 
poor tools, and if well skilled may do a day's work with 
poor tools, but such a man takes no pride in his business, 
and could do proportionally more, and with greater ease, 
if he had better tools. 

It is almost impossible to speak intelligently or specifi- 
cally about tools without assuming some special kind of 
work to govern the matter, but as this would exceed the 
brief limits assigned to the subject here, we will endeavour 
to treat it in a general way. 

The first and leading tools are bench planes, a set of 
which should consist of one 26-inch jointer 2|-inch iron, 
one 24-inch jointer 2|-inch iron, one 22-inch fore-plane 
2J-inch iron, one jack plane 2^-inch iron, all double irons ; 
one jack plane 2-inch single iron, one handle smooth plane 
2^-inch iron, one common smooth plane 2-inch iron, one 
block plane 2-inch single iron — nine planes in all, as a 
set of bench planes. To these standard planes may be 
added a panel, plough, and right and left rebate planes. 
Other planes, such as hollows and rounds, match and 
moulding planes, are usually shop tools, to be used in 
common. 

For chisels an outfit should consist of a set of firmer- 
chisels, from |th to 2 in. ; two long firmer - chisels for 
paring, 1 J and If in. ; two socket chisels for heavy work, 
f- and 1J in. ; bench gouges, from ^ to 2 in. ; and a 1-in. 
blunt scraping chisel. All should be in order, handled, 
and kept in racks at the back of the bench, within easy 
reach. For saws there will be needed one rip and one 
cross-cut hand saw, one panel saw, one each 12 and 8 inch 
back saws, with others of a special character, such as a 
ramp saw, bow saw, and dovetail saw. 

Planes, chisels, and saws, are the main tools in bench 
work, and should be of the best quality. 



THE OPERATORS HANDBOOK, 



183 



For the convenience of apprentices who desire to select 
a set of tools, the following list is appended ; it may 
contain many more than are needed, but will be none the 
less useful for reference : — 



Planes, as before. 

Chisels and gouges, as before. 

Hand, back, and other saws, 

before. 
3, 5, and 7 inch try-squares. 
One carpenter's steel square. 
Bench and tack hammers. 
One wood mallet. 
One 5-inch hand-axe. 



One 24-inch single fold slide-rule. 
Oil-stone, slip, and oil-can. 
One pair 4-inch spring dividers. 
One pair 8-inch steel compasses. 
One wooden brace, with full set 

of bits. 
One set auger-bits, from £ to 1 

inch. 
Two spoke-shaves, 2\ and 3 inch. 



To these may be added a number of little things which, 
although hardly to be included in a list of bench tools, 
will often be wanted, such as a chalk-line and spool, bench 
brush, strap block, sand-paper block, wood straight-edges, 
plumb-line, spirit level, or bench hooks, which can be 
supplied as needed, but should be owned by the workman, 
and kept at the bench, each in its proper place. 

When a man learns bench work, he should do so 
thoroughly. He should study and observe the various 
modes of performing work which he sees around him, and 
estimate their advantages. The fact that bench work is 
mainly done by the piece in wood shops would be, as 
one would think, a sufficient incentive for workmen to 
study it carefully, with a view to increase their earn- 
ings, but strange to say the facts do not permit such a 
conclusion. 

Twenty-five cents a day saved or made by having a 
good bench and a complete set of tools, amount to 75 
dollars a year, almost enough to pay for an outfit of tools, 
to say nothing of the greater satisfaction with which the 
work can be executed. 

In using bench planes it is a good plan to learn to 



184 the operator's handbook. 

plane with one hand as much as possible, especially with 
jack planes. 

To keep both hands on a plane makes one of two things 
necessary, either to walk along and carry the body with 
the plane at each stroke ; or else to plane by short strokes, 
making a kind of chipping operation. A man can stand 
in one position and plane the length of a piece 4 feet long, 
with one hand, and propel the plane with just as much 
force, and when he has learned it, with more force than 
if he used both hands. If a brace pin is used in the side 
of the bench, he can, in roughing out with a jack plane, 
do twice as much in a given time as he could by grasping 
the plane in both hands and moving his body with it. 
Granting this proposition, which will be fully proved by 
an experiment and following it until learned, is it not 
strange that we rarely see planes used in one hand ? 

Another thing connected with dressing up stuff which 
may save time and labour, is the use of the try square. 
Supposing that a piece is being jointed or squared in the 
vice, the custom in trying is to remove the 
plane, put the square on the piece with the 
blade on the top, and then stoop down to 
look under the blade, generally low enough 
to bring the eye level with the piece. This 
can be done with half the trouble and with 
more accuracy by placing the head of the 
square on the top of the piece, as in Fig. 65, 
and looking down along the blade at the side. 
To do this the plane need not be removed from the piece, 
the body is kept erect, and in the case of a thin board 
instead of having but its thickness to gauge from, there is 
the whole length of the square blade to be sighted. At 
first it will seem awkward to use a square in this manner, 




THE OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK. 185 

and difficult to have it balance on the top of the stuff, but 
after a little practice it becomes natural and easy, even on 
the thinnest pieces, and it would be equally awkward to 
return to the old method. 

These two examples are cited as preliminary to saying 
that very old practice may be capable of improvement. 
In fact the tendency is to move in a particular groove, to 
hold to old habits, and the tenacity with which they are 
retained is generally as the length of time they have been 
practised ; so strong has this influence been in opposing 
improvement and progress that we are justified in accept- 
ing any old custom with a certain degree of distrust, not 
of its being wrong in the main, for anything long practised 
by intelligent people is generally right, but this statement 
must be qualified by adding, so far as it goes. The very 
confidence that causes us to cling to old usages is but a 
recognition of the truth of the proposition. 

In America this conservatism is but weak compared to 
older countries, and in this fact is found one of the strongest 
reasons for the progress made in improving hand manipu- 
lation and industry of all kinds. Kapid changes may 
sometimes lead to errors which a greater respect for old 
customs would have enabled us to avoid, but upon the 
whole the gain is vastly greater than the loss. 

It is therefore contended that because bench practice in 
wood work is old, it is no reason why it cannot be improved, 
especially as it has been greatly modified and changed 
by the introduction of machinery. 



THE END. 



INDEX 



Accidents, causes of, 69. 

from winding clothing, 77. 

from flying cutters, 79. 

■ from set screws, 77. 

from saws, 71. 

from winding belts, 75. 

from wood machines, 69. 

in sawing, to guard against, 71. 

precautions against, 78. 

Arrangement of machines, 4. 
of shafting, diagram of, 21. 

Band saw blades, 121, 122. 

saw blades, joining, 122, 123. 

saws, brazing forge for, 124. 

saws, edge strain of, 124, 125. 

saws, for recutting, 127. 

saws, for resawing, the con- 
struction of, 127. 

saws, on the use of, 121. 

saws, the width of, 125. 

saws, the teeth of, 125. 

saws, the speed of, 125, 126. 

Bearings, brass. 92. 

how to fit, 90. 

how to examine, 97. 

metal for, 91. 

moulded, S7. 

to melt the metal for, 89. 

to mould, 88. 

■ the cause of heating, 97. 

the care of, 96. 

Belt joints, diagrams of, 84. 

Belts for wood machines, proportions 
of, 32. 

for cutters, width of, 57. 

hook joints for, 84. 

how to throw on, 76. 

injury by rubbing, 59. 

main, material for, 33. 

of leather and india-rubber, 38. 

of webbing for high speeds, 36. 

plans of joining, 33. 

round and flat, 36. 

single and double, 86. 

tractile power of, 32. 



Belts, treatment of, 36. 

tension of, 35. 

to make run true, 59. 

danger of throwing on, 76. 

weight of, 35. 

Belting for wood machinery, 32. 
Benches for wood work, 178. 

for cabinet work, 180. 

for pattern making, 180. 

tool racks for, 179. 

Bench tools for wood work, 181. 

tools, a list of, 182. 

Bench work, 177. 

work, how to save, 183, 184. 

Boilers for wood manufactories, 13. 

manner of covering, 16. 

Boring bits, speed of, 54. 

Ceilings, flush, convenience of, 10. 
Circular saws, danger from, 71. 

gauges for, 73. 

pieces thrown from, 72. 

rigidity of, 55. 

speed of, 55. 

Clearing wood shops, 42. 
Countershaft, diagram of, 27. 
Countershafts, bearings for, 30. 

erecting, 25. 

hanger-plates for, 26. 

laying out the position of, 2S. 

speed of, 54. 

to set parallel, 29. 

Couplings for shafting, 23. 
Cutter-bolts, overstraining, 80. 

material for, 80. 

Cutter-heads, diagrams of, 103, 104. 
Cutters, angle of, for hard wood, 103. 

bevels for, 108. 

bolts for, 79. 

of scraping machines, 106. 

of solid steel, 147. 

of thin steel, 110, 111. 

the angle of, 101. 

the bevel of, 105. 

Cutting parallel to and across the 
fibre, 99. 



INDEX. 



187 



Cutting, propositions relating to, 100. 

saws, as an example of, 99. 

wood, the principle of, 98. 

Damper regulators, steam, 17. 
Difficulties of text-books, v. 
Division of labour in Europe, iv. 

Effect of machines on labour, v. 

Factories, general arrangement of, 2. 
Feeding furnaces, manner of, 18. 
Fire, precautions against, 49. 

rooms, arrangement of, 18. 

sources of, 49. 

to guard against, 50. 

Firing, irregularity of, 14. 

the manner of, 17. 

Floors, supports for, 11. 

sheathing for, 10. 

with beams and joists, 10. 

Furnace, cross section of, 17. 

elevation of, 16. 

longitudinal section of, 1 5. 

Furnaces for wood factories, 15. 
general dimensions for, 10. 

Gauge lathes, character of, 1 64. 
Girders for wood factories, 8. 

supports for, 9. 

Grinding cutters, the object of, 111. 

hard stones for, 108. 

Grindstones, arrangement of, 112. 
for cutters, 1 08. 

Handbooks, how prepared, viii. 
Hand-feeding machines, 143, 144. 
Hand labour supplanted by ma- 
chines, iii. 
Handling material, 37. 
Hanger-plates, mode of fastening, 27. 
Hangers for line shafts, 23. 

strength of, 30. 

Hard wood, speed of cutting, 56. 
Height of factories, affected by the 

floor framing, 8. 
Hoisting machinery, 40. 

machines, danger of, 41. 

Hook-belt joints, manner of making, 

34. 



Jobbing mill, arrangement of, 3. 

diagram of, 3. 

Joiners' stuff, mill for, 6. 

Lathes, excentric, cost of turning by. 

167. 

excentric, 165. 

excentric, the arrangement of, 

165. 

for gauge turning, 163. 

for rod turning, 167. 

shears for, 161. 

the construction of, 159, 100. 

tools for, 161. 

with finishing cutters, 163. 

with rotary tools, 164. 

Lime feed water for boilers, 13. 
Line shafting, arrangement of, 4. 
Lubricating compounds, 97. 

tallow, cups for, 95. 

wood machines, 92. 

Lumber from round timber, 174, 175. 

machine, dimensions of, 176. 

machine to prepare, 176. 

supplying, 174. 

to procure, 175. 

Machine lines in buildings, 31. 

lines, manner of making, 31 . 

'■ operating as a trade, iv. 

Machines, foundations for, 32. 

how manufactured, 171. 

levelling and fixing, 32. 

purchasing, 171. 

resistance of in starting, 20, 60. 

setting, 30. 

stopping and starting, 60. 

Magazines for shavings, 45. 

Main driving pulleys, diameter of, 

54. 
Material, moving, means of, 41. 

room for moving, 37. 

trucks for moving, 37. 

Measurements, by succession, 31. 
Mortising, 149. 

bits, chuck for, 154. 

chisels, to prepare, 155. 

machines for joiner work, 151. 

machines, reciprocating, 149, 

150. 
machines, rotary, 150, 151. 



188 



INDEX. 



Mortising machines, rotary, for chair 

work, 153. 
plans for compared, 151, 152. 

Oil, means of applying, 94. 

feeders, wicks for, 95. 

paramne, 93. 

waste of, 93. 

On hand-feeding, 143. 

Patents, 1G8. 

as capital, 170. 

on thin cutters, 111. 

the scope of, 169. 

value of, 169. 

Planers, carriage, 131. 

Planer carriages, objects of, 131. 

for surfacing, 136. 

parallel, 134. 

parallel, the principles of, 134, 

135. 

scraping, 137. 

traversing, 132. 

used in Europe, 134. 

with chain feed, 136. 

Planing and jobbing mill, difference 

between, 5. 

cylinders, speed of, 54. 

machines, classification of, 130. 

machines, starting, 136. 

mill, arrangement of, 7. 

mill, diagram of, 6. 

mill, general dimensions for 

details, 6. 

the amount of edge used in, 132. 

the speed of, 133. 

to increase the speed of, 132, 

133. 
Pneumatic apparatus, danger of fire 

from, 48. 

conductors for wood shops, 43. 

fans, construction of, 43. 

fans, diagrams of, 44. 

pipes for sweepings, 47. 

pipes, hoods for, 45. 

pipes, material for, 45. 

Polishing, as a process, 138. 

Barker's machine for, 139. 

machine, drawings for, 142. 

wheels, how to construct, 139. 

Posts, position of, 4. 



Power for grinding, and other details, 
58. 

needed for American wood ma- 
chines, 57. 

required, table for, 58. 

to drive machines, 56. 

value of, 59. 

waste of, 59. 

Processes, nature of, in wood work, 1. 

Pulleys, arrangement of, on line 
shafts, 75. 

balancing, 22. 

for line shafting, 22. 

loose, fit of, 62. 

loose, means of oiling, 64. 

loose, oil ways for, 63. 

loose, packing for, 63. 

shifting, 61. 

shifting, arrangement of, 64. 

shifting, with idle shaft, 61. 

Qualifications of an operator, v. 

Repairing, an economical plan for, 82. 

instructio 

outfit for, 81. 

room for, 84. 

the difficulty of understanding, 

83. 

tools for, 81. 

wood machinery, 80. 

Repairs, cost of, 80. 

Saw benches, arrangement of, 114. 

benches, for jointing, 114. 

mandrils, dimensions for, 116. 

mandrils, manner of fitting, 117. 

Saws, circular, 113. 

circular, guides for, 114. 

counter-balances for, 128. 

cross-cutting carriages for, 120. 

for cross-cutting, 120. 

form of teeth for, 117. 

for recutting, 128. 

for scroll cutting, 128. 

gauges for, 114. 

guides, drawings of, 115. 

how to set, 117. 

jig, to set up, 128. 

jig, foundations for, 128. 

jig, men to operate, 129. 

on the use of, 119. 



INDEX, 



189 



Saws, packing for, 115. 

reciprocating, 128. 

scroll, sharpening, 130. 

scroll, the teeth of, 129. 

setting machine for, 118. 

Shafting, advantages of several cross 

lines, 22. 

arrangement of, 20. 

: dimensions for, 21. 

for wood shops, 19. 

how to level, 23. 

imperfection of, 19. 

severe duty of, in wood shops, 

20. 

to line horizontally, 24. 

Shaping cutters, how to prepare, 147. 

deep cutters for, 148. 

hand feed for, 1 42. 

machines, cutters for, 75. 

machines, danger of, 73. 

machines, guards for, 73. 

machines, holding clamp for, 74. 

machines, origin of, 146. 

machines, speed of, 148. 

machines with two spindles, 145. 

spindles, bearings of, 149. 

the meaning of, 142. 

Sharpening tools, 106. 

moulding cutters, 109. 

emery wheels for, 106-109. 

- — planing knives, device for, 107. 

tools for, 112. 

bench tools for, 112. 

Shavings magazine, diagram of, 46. 
Shifters for belts, 65. 

for belts, arrangement of, 65. 

Shops, system in, 113. 
Speed of line shafting, 54. 

of reciprocating machines, 55. 

of cutting edges, 52. 

diversity of opinions of, 51. 

rules for, 52, 

tables for, 53. 

of wood machines, 51. 



Starting machines, shock of, 68. 
Steam engines, details of, 13. 

requirements of, 12. 

power for wood factories, 11. 

Tempering tools, 87. 
Tenoning, 156. 

machines, old and new, 156. 

machines, the carriages of, 157. 

Tension pulleys, GQ. 

pulleys, advantages of, 67. 

pulleys, construction of, 68. 

pulleys, diagrams of, 68. 

Text-books for wood-machine opera- 
tors, ix. 

how far useful, vii. 

the reason they are wanting, 

vii. 

their importance, v. 

Tools, taking care of, 112. 
Tramways for wood shops, 41, 42. 
Trucks, advantages of, 40. 

construction of, 38. 

details of, and dimensions for, 

39. 

diagrams for, 38. 

Try square, how to use, 184. 
Turned work, to polish, 162. 
Turning, 158. 
Turning, gauge tool for, 167. 

hand lathes for, 159. 

the importance of, 158. 

Universal machines, 144, 145. 

Water pipes, freezing of, 18. 
Wood-dust, inflammable nature of, 48. 
Wood machines, analogy between, vii. 

machines, danger from, 70. 

machines, how improved, 146. 

machines, improvements iD, 146. 

work, divisions of. 1. 

work has no text-books, vi. 

in America, extent of, vi. 



Just Published, in crown Mo, cloth, gilt, $6 or 25s. 



A TKEATISE 

ON 

THE CONSTRUCTION AND OPEKATION 

OF 

WOOD-WORKING MACHINES: 



CONTAINING 



A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE 

MANUFACTURE OF WOOD-CUTTING MACHINERY 

SINCE THE YEAR 1790. 

Illustrate bg mmwriras plates anb (f&ngrafrhrgs, 



THE MODERN PEACTICE OF PROMINENT ENGINEERS IN 
ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND AMERICA. 

By J. KICHAKDS, 

MECHANICAL ENGINEER. ( 

NEW YORK : 

E. & F. N. SPON, 446, BEOOME STREET, 

LONDON: 

48, CHARING CROSS. 



The attention of Engineers, Builders, and Wood Manu- 
facturers, is called to this work as one that cannot fail to 
be of advantage in their business. 

Although wood conversion is an extended and impor- 



( ii ) 

tant interest, both in Home and Foreign manufactures, and 
although immediately connected with general engineering 
matters, such as ship-building, bridge-building, and rail- 
way equipment, it has thus far remained without such 
text-books as have contributed so much to the develop- 
ment of other branches of industry. 

The application of machinery to wood conversion is 
the subject of special interest at this time, because of 
the increased cost of skilled labour, a condition that must 
be mainly met by a more thorough and extended applica- 
tion of machines in the various branches of wood work. 

The Treatise is directed to this object, and contains 
explanations of the principles that govern wood-cutting, 
with full instructions as to the best manner of construct- 
ing and operating wood-working machines, their care 
and management, with other useful information that can- 
not fail to be worth many times the cost of the book to 
those engaged or connected with wood manufacture, the 
equipment of railways, or supplying engineering plant. 

The work includes an interesting history of the leading 
facts connected with the origin and progress of machines 
for wood conversion in Europe and America ; with dis- 
sertations on the various operations of sawing, planing, 
shaping, boring and turning wood, based upon the ex- 
perience of a practical engineer who has for twenty years 
been engaged in designing, constructing, and operating 
standard and special machines for wood manufacture. 

It contains twenty-five folding plates, and nearly one 
hundred full-page illustrations of English, French, and 
American Wood-working Machines in modern use, selected 
from the designs of prominent engineers. The engravings 
are finely executed, consisting mainly of true elevations. 



( ffi ) 

Extracts from Notices of the Work by leading Scientific Journals, 



" With the exception of a very few imperfect articles in 
encyclopaedias, two or three papers read before scientific 
societies, and the description of special machines contained 
in patent specifications and in the pages of technical journals, 
such as our own, the subject has been left untouched; and 
until the appearance of the book now before us, there was, so 
far as we are aware, none that could be referred to for inform- 
ation as to how wood machines should be constructed and 
managed. Under these circumstances, Mr. Richards' Treatise 
is doubly welcome ; it is welcome in the first place, because it 
supplies a want, and in the next place because it supplies it 
well. . . . Mr. Richards devotes two sections of his work to 
a consideration of wood-working machinery generally, and to 
an explanation of the principles that govern wood-cutting; 
these explanations being accompanied by data concerning hand- 
power operations and the performance of the same work by 
machines. ... It contains information that will be appre- 
ciated by a large circle of readers besides those specially 
interested in the construction of wood- working machinery." — 
Engineering, Nov. 8, 1872. 

" One of the few technical works of originality and merit 
that have recently appeared. The plan adopted by the au- 
thor is to notice in a general way the leading operations of 
wood conversion, with the construction and operation of ma- 
chines in modern use ; introducing such rules and treating of 
such laws as have been fixed by practice and experience, and 
have come within the knowledge of the writer within an ex- 
tended experience in designing and constructing both standard 

and special machines for wood work The illustrations 

form an important feature of the work The descriptive 

letter-press and the vast amount of information about the 
various kinds of wood work will make this work indispensable 
to all who are either makers or users of wood-working ma- 
chines." — Mechanic's Magazine, Nov. 16, 1872. 

" It is a full and intelligent account from the pen of a prac- 
tical engineer, of the construction and operation of these useful 
implements, which are every day becoming more of necessity 



( ir ) 

where there is a strain on the ordinary powers of production. 
A closing word is due to the illustrations, which are as copious 
as they are well executed." — British Trade Journal, Nov. 1, 1872. 

" Its publication supplies a want, and the execution of the 
work is for the most part all that could be desired. The author 
has his subject well in hand, and his practical experience is 
well seconded by his literary ability. The book is carefully 
printed, and the illustrations well engraved." — Building News, 
Nov. 15, 1872. 

" If Mr. Richards' work were one of many on the same subject, 
it would possess an intrinsic value as an exposition of the opinions 
of a man practically engaged in the construction of the machines 
of which he treats ; as it is the only work of the kind yet pub- 
lished, it cannot fail to be of very great interest to those engaged 
in similar' pursuits, and to those who employ and superintend the 
operation of wood-working machines The work con- 
tains one hundred and sixteen excellent engravings, which are 
mainly shaded elevations." — English Mechanic and World of 
Science, Dec. 13, 1872. 

" Mr. Eichaeds has written on a subject with which he has a 
thoroughly practical acquaintance, and he has succeeded in pro- 
ducing a treatise which should certainly be in the hands of all 
users of wood- working machinery, and which, moreover, will be 
of much interest to engineers generally. In conclusion we 
should state that the work is illustrated by no less than one 
hundred and seventeen well-engraved plates, showing examples 
of every class of wood- working machinery by the leading makers 
in this country, in America, and on the Continent, while it is 
admirably printed, and its general get-up reflects credit on 
all concerned in its production." — Engineering, Dec. 20, 1872. 
Second notice. 

" The work contains all the information which those who are 
particularly interested in wood-working machines are likely 

to require If it had not been for pressure on our 

space, we had intended to give a detailed account of the book ; 
but no abstract would do justice to the valuable information 
which Mr. Richards furnishes All builders who pos- 
sess machinery of this kind, or who intend to purchase some, 
ought to study attentively this book." — The Architect,' Dec. 28, 
1872. 



( v ) 



LIST OF SUBJECTS TKEATED OF. 



History of Wood- working Machines since 1790. 

Engineering Progress in Machine Construction. 

Invention as an Element in Engineering. 

The Past and the Future of Machine making. 

On Wood-cutting Machines in general. 

The Kelation between Hand and Power Operations in Woodwork and 

the Principles that govern them. 
American and English Wood Machines. 
French Wood Machines. 
Machine Labour-saving. 
Combination in Wood Machines. 
Framing of Machines. 
Patterns for Castings. 
Bearings for Shafts and Spindles. 
Sizes, Proportions, and manner of Constructing. 
Shafting for Wood Manufactures. 
Eotary Balancing. 
Eesawing Machinery. 
Band Saws and Band Sawing. 
Band Sawing Machinery. 
Jig Saws. 

Slitting and Cross-cut Saws. 
Cutting and Cutters. 
Planing Machinery. 
Mortising Machinery. 
Turning Machinery. 
Shaping Machinery. 
Boring Machinery. 
Dovetailing Machinery. 
Cutting Machines with Direct Action. 
Pneumatic Conductors for Clearing Wood Shops. 
Belt Contact and other matters connected with High Speeds. 
Machine Operating. 



Md 



104. 






DOBBS BROS. 

Lit . Mu. .JO 



ST. AUGUSTINE 



